The Monkey of Doom

After catching an amazing sunrise at Angkor Wat yesterday, we proceeded to walk through the massively expansive grounds to view the ancient temples and ruins of an early Hindu civilization that was later transitioned to Buddhist temples. Remnants of Hinduism are few, but some remain. I still have to research the history of this beautiful place, but time just now does not allow. What I DO have time for is the tale of the monkey of DOOM😂😂.

As I said on Instagram (Rebeccainmont) they look cute, but they are vicious. If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Galaxy, Quest’, and remember the scene with the minions, I can liken it to that! If you haven’t seen Galaxy Quest, I highly recommend it. I never stopped laughing during this movie😂😂🤣👏.

Anywho, after a couple of hours of hiking up steep steps and back down, without handrails, we came across the place the Buddhist monks called home. The monkeys appeared in high number here, most likely due to the easily accessible leftovers of the monks. At first, they were just one or two, but then more more appeared…much like flies at a picnic. We all ooohed and ahhhed, took videos, pictures, and one of our team members was patting the backs of two who must have looked lonely, until one turned and tried to bite her. It was then we decided to move away from the monkeys, because we knew it probably wasn’t safe to be too close to them. None of us had gotten rabies shots prior to our trip to Cambodia!

So we continued to walk along the path to the next site of this ancient place, and we eventually came across a unique tree that looked like it had its arms open to embrace us. This tree was a long way away from monkey-topia, so we were breathing easier by this time. Dr. Scott, who is about 6 foot 4inches, suggested we take a picture there. I went and nestled into the tree, while he settled in beside me. Without warning, the monkey of doom appeared, jumped onto my back and proceeded to jump onto Dr. Scott. He continued to crawl on him, jumped on the tree, and then back on Dr. Scott. Dr. Scott believes he tried to bite his ear, but perhaps just a nip to warn him that he was invading a perceived territory. We immediately left the tree area, while a Cambodian man came with a stick to fight the monkey off. I truly think it was Dr. Scott’s height that threatened to the monkey. And perhaps the monkey felt he had to prove his superiority over an adult male that was so tall. We were all a bit rattled by now, so if we saw a monkey, we went the other way! Fortunately, the further we got from the monks’ home, the fewer they were in number. Monkeys. AND monks😂😂. And eventually they disappeared entirely. A happy ending to some stressful moments! Until we got lost at the site where the Tomb Raider was filmed😂😂😂. But that’s another story for another time! My friends are just about done with their 30 minute massages, and I am finishing my toddy in the building next-door🤗💕😂.