Monkey Trouble

The monkey pictured above is an asshole. I saw many monkeys that day, but that one was the worst.


 I visited a place called Batu caves and it was my first time to ever see monkeys.. Well, first time to see ones that are not in a zoo actually. And there were A LOT!

Batu caves is a holy place for the Hindu religion. I didn't know anything about Hinduism at all, but I gained some respect for it simply because they allowed people to take pictures of their sacred stuff! Which surprised me. I've seen so many temples and churches and other beautiful sacred sites that don't allow pictures to be taken!

But those monkeys made more of an impact on my memory than the giant golden statue outside. Batu caves are well, caves. And you have to walk up a bunch of stairs to get to it.  Thankfully, there was no entrance fee. :) Another reason, I gained some respect for Hindus!

 I once read a sign inside of a big fancy church that said You will receive God's blessing if you buy something from the church!  I sure wish I could have taken a picture of that sign, but that's not allowed and I was in eyesight of several strict pope-ish looking dudes!

Anyway, monkeys were all over the stairs leading to the caves..

this one was calm

Despite the location, the monkeys' behavior isn't very holy, many are thieves. I was warned to be careful about cameras. But usually it's food they are after. 

As I was walking I had a bottled juice drink in my hand. That monkey that's in the first picture in this post snuck up on me and he suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere and tried to quickly snatch the bottle out of my hand!!!

He was a bit bigger compared to the other monkeys and he almost succeeded. As the bottled started to slip from my hand, my grip tightened quickly, perhaps just by reflex and then I was in a tug-of-war with the little fucker.

 He angrily flashed me his fangs. Of course that didn't scare me though! 
Ok, maybe a little. I was able to yank the bottle free and he ran off like the little sneaky coward that he is. 

Anyway, I continued to walk and drink my juice. When I was down to the last drink, I handed my bottle to another monkey who didn't try to steal it. 

While walking back down the steps, I saw a monkey rip open a box of incense sticks.
Then they all fell to the ground. It probably stole it from a Hindu person who was carrying them to place at an altar inside. A man picked up one of the sticks and handed it to the monkey.

Then the monkey smelled it and for some reason started rubbing it with its hands.

Batu caves are in Western Malaysia, You can take a train from Kuala Lumpur. But I had yet another incident with a monkey later in a different part of Malaysia. This time it was a bit more dangerous. It happened in Borneo.

Well, I was walking alone in the jungle, not the smartest idea, but I was on hiking trail that I know people go on, including tourists. But as I walked that day, I didn't see any one else on the trail. 

I was walking kind of fast then suddenly I stopped when I spotted a monkey.

The type of monkey was bigger than the ones at Batu Caves. As you can see, she was on the trail. She sat down and we looked at each other. After awhile, the monkey got up and walked closer to me and then sat down again. I was standing still.

 I couldn't believe how close the monkey was to me now and she showed no signs of aggression. 

But then unfortunately for me something happened a little later that raised the excitement.

I heard a rustling noise behind me and saw a baby monkey rushing toward me to check me out. 

I was now standing in between a curious baby monkey and what could possible be its mother! At this point, I put the camera away. So, I'm sorry but I didn't get the next exciting scene on film.

They still showed no signs of aggression, in fact, they seemed very calm. I was mostly facing the big monkey instead of the baby one that I knew was eyeballing me from behind.

I stood there for what felt like a really long time, though, it may have been shorter than it felt. What should I do now? I was trapped. I didn't want to just stand there all day. but I was afraid to move. I remembered that the big monkey had walked closer to me willingly, before the little one arrived. She didn't seem afraid to do that. 
I don't know why she did that. Maybe It's my turn; maybe I can build trust. 
Oh crap, I don't have any food or bananas.
But I was standing, and because I stand on 2 legs, I am quite a bit taller than the monkey. She was sitting, so I thought maybe she would feel more comfortable if I sit down and was on her level of height. 

So I started to sit down. As soon as I did. She charged at me. I quickly stood back up and got ready to kick her in face. But for some reason I stopped myself, At the last second I decided I would wait until she actually touched me before attacking. 

It was the right choice. 

Now she was directly in front of me Screaming. I saw her her fangs and her claws and she slashed at the ground very near my feet, I was terrified but she hadn't touched me yet. She slashed and screamed crazily. And so I just started talking. I tried to make my voice sound as gentle as possible and she calmed down and looked at me as I spoke.  I said something like, "hey, hey, hey! don't be that way. I'm not here to hurt you or the baby." I pointed to myself and said "I just want to walk that way, please." and I pointed at the trail in front of us.

She may have understood me. She simply walked around me. Then when she was behind me she looked back at me with an expression as if she was saying "go"

and I walked away safely. I finished the trail, fearing that I may see more. But I didn't.