Wild Monkey at Silver Springs
 

Walking along a path.

i love it!!!!!

Monkeys probably frighten me more than just about any other animal.

Hey! It's my uncle Bob! Haven't seen him in years. Like the haircut.

Don't blame you.

My in-laws live in Thailand and we've visited there more-or-less regularly in years past. Have had some experience with the critters. In one of the smaller cities there is a "monkey park" where you can pay to enter, stroll around and observe the monkeys. As I recall they're of the smaller variety but they've been known to bite if a patron gets too friendly, or chuck a handful of dung at you (and they're pretty accurate). Some of the nature walks where you might encounter macaques might have the guide advise not to wear any flashy jewelry or carry your camera where it is obvious; macaques have been known to rush up and take such things and they DON'T give them back.

One experience in particular stands out. The family had rented a couple of cabins on the island of Koh Samet. There are quite a few macaques on that island. Our cabins were surrounded by forest and was quite scenic. One morning a troop of Macaques showed up. They didn't approach us, merely remained at the edge of the forested areas and watched us. Some of the juvenile macaques seemed to want to socialize but were reined in by their (assumed) parents. We were eating breakfast outside and most of the food was on a long table in the courtyard. We tossed a few bits of food to the juveniles and they snatched those up pretty quickly. One monkey, older and much grayer than the rest, perched on the roof of the cabin, squatting like Yogi Berra and snatching rice balls out of the air as we tossed them in his direction. Pretty idyllic.

Following breakfast, we men left on a beer run. What happened afterwards was not exactly idyllic. As soon as we men left, the troop swooped on in, chased the women into the cabin and helped themselves to whatever was left on the table. They left before we got back, after having pretty much cleaned the table of anything edible.

I remember as a kid my grandfather would take me there and the monkeys would jump onto the glass bottom boats.

Debbie Downer brings up Hepatitis!