Pattaya Pioneering: Monkey Day at the Beach

Friday we took a ferryboat to an island to have a beach day. The beach we went to is called Monkey Beach because there are monkeys there to feed. They are quite tame which you will see in the pictures.

This is the city sign from the pier. You can also see it across the bay.

Christina and Gina on the ferry. We met a woman who is traveling thru Thailand by herself. She retired a couple months before and a couple years early. When we met her she was enjoying her last couple days in Thailand before going home to Germany.

A private island with two houses built on it we could see from the boat. Very beautiful.

View from pier. Colors are so bright and pretty.

A taxi waiting it's passengers.

This is a Buddhist temple. They are called "Wats". Notice the white elephant? To possess a white elephant was regarded (and is still regarded in Thailand and Burma) as a sign that the monarch reigned with justice and power, and that the kingdom was blessed with peace and prosperity. The tradition derives from tales which associate a white elephant with the birth of the Buddha, as his mother was reputed to have dreamed of a white elephant presenting her with a lotus flower, a symbol of wisdom and purity, on the eve of giving birth. Because the animals were considered sacred and laws protected them from labor, receiving a gift of a white elephant from a monarch was simultaneously both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because the animal was sacred and a sign of the monarch's favour, and a curse because the animal had to be retained and could not be put to much practical use, but cost a significant amount to maintain.

This was a beautiful and pleasant beach. Picture of coarse doesn't do it proper. The hill in the background is where the monkeys live and get fed from all the tourists.

This monkey had just taken a banana from me and then snubbed me. Ha ha

This little guy was funny. He just hung out at my feet and if he was done with a banana and wanted more, he would tap my leg or pull my skirt to get my attention.

Here is what happens when others want bananas too and you don't pay attention. The smaller monkeys would jump on you to get closer to the bananas and away from the larger monkeys who would take them away from them. All was good until Kristen realized what goes in, must come out. Sadly it came out of this monkey all over her back and down her leg. Poor Kristen. Good thing we were at the beach and she jumped in right away and cleaned up. :)