Monkey Fearest
After three months of talking about it, I finally made it to the Monkey Forest.
Mel and I had planned on going early in the morning to avoid the crowds... We wanted the monkeys all to ourselves. As per usual, we woke up early and then spent the next few hours on our lovely deck drinking coffee, playing with the computer and eating our daily breakfast of fruit salad and an egg jaffle. (Jaffle is Australian for a sandwich pocket.)
As we approached the sacred forest, we both promised we'd get a money shot of each of us with a monkey. All I wanted was one picture of me looking at a monkey and him (or her) looking back at me. Easy enough. After parking the bike, we walked down the hill and headed for the entrance. Mel noticed a cute one in the tree and asked me to get a shot of her with him. As she leaned over to pose with him, he snarled right at her and took a huge leap toward her head. She screamed and ran away. All I was able to capture was his angry face. The taxi drivers in the area had a good laugh. So did I. But to be honest, I was starting to have second thoughts about this forest.
Mel was still shaking as we walked across the street to the entrance. Before buying a ticket, we elected to buy bananas – sort of a peace offering, or a way to get them close enough to photograph.
With bananas in our pockets, we timidly attempted to get our pictures. I had the camera first. Mel took a banana out and immediately had a monkey grab it out of her hand. I got a picture of her hand, but couldn't get her. Then it was my turn. I took a banana out and began to peel it before feeding it to a small monkey. I quickly realized that no monkey had time for my human peeling bullshit pace, so I just closed my eyes and handed it to him. We went through this exercise until the bananas were gone. With each banana that was grabbed from our trembling hands, Mel and I became more and more terrified. We hadn’t even entered the actual forest yet. Shaking and pissing our pants, we looked at each other and at the same time said, “I can’t do this.”
So we left and had some coconut juice to calm us down.
Mel and I had planned on going early in the morning to avoid the crowds... We wanted the monkeys all to ourselves. As per usual, we woke up early and then spent the next few hours on our lovely deck drinking coffee, playing with the computer and eating our daily breakfast of fruit salad and an egg jaffle. (Jaffle is Australian for a sandwich pocket.)
As we approached the sacred forest, we both promised we'd get a money shot of each of us with a monkey. All I wanted was one picture of me looking at a monkey and him (or her) looking back at me. Easy enough. After parking the bike, we walked down the hill and headed for the entrance. Mel noticed a cute one in the tree and asked me to get a shot of her with him. As she leaned over to pose with him, he snarled right at her and took a huge leap toward her head. She screamed and ran away. All I was able to capture was his angry face. The taxi drivers in the area had a good laugh. So did I. But to be honest, I was starting to have second thoughts about this forest.
Mel was still shaking as we walked across the street to the entrance. Before buying a ticket, we elected to buy bananas – sort of a peace offering, or a way to get them close enough to photograph.
With bananas in our pockets, we timidly attempted to get our pictures. I had the camera first. Mel took a banana out and immediately had a monkey grab it out of her hand. I got a picture of her hand, but couldn't get her. Then it was my turn. I took a banana out and began to peel it before feeding it to a small monkey. I quickly realized that no monkey had time for my human peeling bullshit pace, so I just closed my eyes and handed it to him. We went through this exercise until the bananas were gone. With each banana that was grabbed from our trembling hands, Mel and I became more and more terrified. We hadn’t even entered the actual forest yet. Shaking and pissing our pants, we looked at each other and at the same time said, “I can’t do this.”
So we left and had some coconut juice to calm us down.
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| Breakfast |
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 |
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| Innocent, right? |
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| Not! |
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| Got my bananas |
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| There's my foot, bottom right |
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| Too slow, again |
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| You try to focus while shaking |
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| Mel's hand |
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| Missed it again |
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| Good-bye Monkey Fearest |
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| Beloved coconut juice. Ahhhh |
posted by PDmaX at
8:10 AM
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