Monkeys and Massages

Thailand is apparently quite famous for its massages, so Jordan and I decided that it was something we must experience. It was all outdoors under a canopy with a perfect view of the beach and ocean. It was very relaxing. Having never had a "real" massage before, I quite enjoyed my Thai massage. Afterwards, they gave us each pineapple on a stick.

At the far end of "our" beach, just beyond the massage place, we discovered a colony of monkeys. They were very friendly and quite funny to watch. They would gently grab pieces of banana right out of our hands. They were also practicing their wrestling.

I was able to get pretty close to this little family.

This monkey was having quite the conversation with Jordan.

And I thought this little guy was just plain cute. He looked like he was going to fall right off the boardwalk.

Speaking of monkeys...

On our first night in Thailand, we ventured out to explore our new territory. As soon as we exited the hotel, I spied a monkey sitting on some local guy's shoulder.

Of course, I was immediately drawn to the monkey, and started walking towards it. And, of course, the guy saw me coming a mile away. Before I knew what was happening, he practically threw the monkey on me! I was feeling a mixture of bewilderment and excitement that I was holding a real live monkey, so, being a typical tourist, I beckoned Jordan to take a quick picture.

I neglected to notice the rather large polaroid camera hanging around the guy's neck. So, as Jordan was taking a picture with our camera, the guy was doing the same with his own camera. He proceeded to put the monkey on Jordan's shoulder and take yet another picture, even though Jordan resisted.

As I'm sure you have already guessed, the guy then expected to sell us the pictures for 200 baht each. Having just arrived, we hadn't yet mastered the art of exchanging the money in our heads. We managed to pay for just one picture, arguing that we only wanted one picture. As we walked away, however, we figured out that we had payed the equivalent of about 7 bucks for that picture!

Ah, the mistakes made during the first few hours in a new country. We learned pretty quickly after that. So, the next time you go to Thailand, steer clear of guys holding monkeys. All I can say is, he saw me coming!

At that time, little did we know that just down the beach there lived a whole big family of monkeys, which could amuse us for free!