Monkey Mountain

Buddha blessing the sea

My boss Geoffrey likes monkeys. When he found out we were going to Hua Hin, he suggested we visit Monkey Mountain, a hill overlooking the sea on the southern end of Hua Hin beach. A short tuk-tuk ride took us to the top of the mountain, where there was a small souvenir market, a temple, and lots and lots of monkeys.

climbing the steep steps to Wat Khao Takiab

Although most foreigners call it "Monkey Mountain," the official name is Khao Takiab, Chopsticks Mountain. I don't know why. In any case, the small temple Wat Khao Takiab sits at its peak, looking out over the sea.

looking back over Hua Hin

the temple's spirit house

The top of the hill offers the best view of Hua Hin. The temple itself is very small; I only saw one monk sitting quietly inside, talking softly to the Thai family making merit in front of him. This particular temple seemed to be mostly maintained by a small group of nuns, shaven-headed, white-robed holy women who carried sticks and slingshots to ward off mischievous monkeys.

prayer bells

And mischievous they were! Our tuk-tuk driver gladly took us to Monkey Mountain, but not before moving his small icebox inside the cab with him. Through a series of pantomimes, he indicated that we should be careful of our cellphones and sunglasses. The monkeys are little thieves!

feeding time

Of particular interest to the monkeys was Kate's bag. Because we had left directly from school, she had forgotten to bring a purse and instead was carrying her belongings in a plastic 7-11 bag. The monkeys were very interested in that bag, and their ears perked up every time it made a crinkling noise. She got pretty freaked out by the monkeys, and in the end she made her boyfriend carry her bag. One monkey jumped on him to try to grab it, and he had to carry it under his arm in a way so that it didn't make any noise.

little monkey thinks he's a monk with a saffron cloth

I didn't really like the big monkeys. They seemed too aggressive. The little ones were cute though, and wanted to play with whatever they could get their hands on (we soon discovered that plastic bags were their favorite toys).

We left Monkey Mountain unscathed and with all of our belongings. The nuns made us laugh; just holding up their slingshots was enough to make the monkeys scatter! I guess the little guys have learned not to mess with them. The rest of the holiday was spent being lazy on the beach, and I loved it!