Chombeung - City Of Sacred Monkeys

After 12 years I finally made it out to Ratchaburi Province to visit my Peace Corps buddy, Tim, at his ho in meChombeung District. I'm not sure what took so long because it's an easy drive at just over 100 km, and it's a nice place for a short visit. Although Chombeung is only a short distance from Bangkok, it still has that small, upcountry town feel - similar to my Peace Corps town in Chaiyaphum. I wouldn't want to live there, but it's great to visit. Things tend to move a little slower and the people you meet are much more open. It's most likely due to the lack of foreigners in these towns, where we are more of a novelty compared to Bangkok where foreigners are seen as more of a hassle.

I didn't take a lot of pictures because we didn't see a lot outside of a bar or the Chombeung version of the "Noodle Shop". I did snap a shot of this 10 inch lizard that surprised me in the bathroom while I was taking care of my morning business.


Sparing no expense, Tim and his buddies treated me to a local delicacy - chicken feet stew.

Here's the man himself. Mastering the Thai technique of stuffing a Vick's Vapor Inhaler in your nose whenever a bad smell wafts by. Apparently, the guy next door to the noodle shop is a fish fryer.

Although there's a lot to see in Chombeung, we spent most of our time catching up. However, we did stop by a small park to visit our close cousins, the sacred monkeys of Chombeung. As the story goes, these monkeys were proclaimed sacred by the King of Thailand some years back, and therefore, must be protected - to the extent that they run amok throughout the town. They're absolutely everywhere. Always watching, waiting, plotting, biding their time...

They're not afraid of humans, at all, and ran straight for my car, thinking I had food. I had to close the window for fear that one of them would jump inside. Here they are playing on the roof. They were about to rip off my antennae, so we had to leave.

This guy wanted to hitch a ride back to Bangkok.