the Monkey Feastival, Thailand

A trip to the City of Lopburi was on our agenda, to witness the Monkey Feast at their Khmer temple. Lopburi isn't too far from Bangkok, it takes two hours by train or one hour by car or bike. Since we had our toddler coming along, we choose the quicker minivan option to get there. 85 Baht per person is a good price for this speedy service, they took us there via Saraburi in a short time. Since we knew Lopburi and it's temple well, the proclaimed Monkey Festival drew our attention. Some research beforehand about their timing and schedule must have been ignored, two weeks prior to the event. No one had time to give any details or answers to our question. The website was also a big void on information, so we took our chances. Macaque monkeys occupy this temple compound, it seemed to be their refuge when the City of Lopburi developed around this 1.000 year old ruin. The animals are not so welcome with the merchants near here. When they venture around, they snatch food. The humans keep the monkeys with slingshots and sticks at bay all year round. We witnessed that on several occasions prior to this day.

Today was their big "Thank You" day and a feast was arranged for them. Several dozen concrete monkeys were scattered around the compound. The venue is fenced in and accessible from the south, where a stair leads to the lawn, surrounding the ancient Khmer temple. There is also a ticket booth to the left of the stairs, but today admission was free to anyone!