T for Thailand: Monkey Business

Every year, in April, the Blogging A-Z Challenge kicks off with a bang and now in its seventh year running, it continues to garner even more participation than ever! Click here to read more on the challenge! And if you're participating too, do leave your blog site in the comments! I'd love to visit!

There’s an electricity in the air, a nervous anticipation of the unknown. And then I hear it. A low murmur in the distance, picking up speed and volume as it gets closer. Like a tsunami, like the sounds of the ocean taking over your senses leaving you no time to react. Thirty seconds later, they are all over the place. Monkeys. Thousands of them. I watch horrified as they continue to swarm out of the temple in large numbers. Most of them focus on the food laid out for them. Some detour into the crowd of people gathered to watch the event. They climb up people’s backs, play with their hats, their sunglasses.

I locate him in the crowd and our eyes lock. He reaches down, pats the man he’s standing behind and before I can realize it, he has his wallet in his hand. I gasp. He moves along. This time to a lady with a handbag. Three slits and its contents falls into his waiting palms. In the distance the monkeys continue to keep the crowd entertained. I feel a nudge on my side. I look up and it’s him. He narrows his eyes at me, shoving the loot into my hands. “And that’s how you do it. Your turn.”

Click here to access the complete works of the 2016 A-Z Blogging Challenge!
Every year, one of the main tourist attractions in Thailand is the Monkey Buffet Festival. In addition to feeding the monkeys, people also dress up in monkey costumes for parades and other activities. http://festivalasia.net/festivals/Monkey-Buffet-Festival-2015.html

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