Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkeys

When most people think of the Batu Caves in Malaysia, they think of the tall golden Hindu statue which guards the entrance. I think of monkeys.

I have always had a love (read fascination) of our primate counterparts. They always seem to be the most entertaining part of the zoo (mainly because a lot of the other animals, as cute as they may be, often don’t do a lot. Monkeys swing around, throw poo and generally cause a riot). I had read about monkeys hanging around (pardon the pun) at several Malaysia tourist sites, in particular the hugely famous Batu Caves – situated around half an hour outside of Kuala Lumpur city by train – and was excited to see these cheeky little creatures up close with my own eyes. Hell, I thought, maybe one might even jump on my shoulder a la Ross and Marcel from Friends and I could strike a pose for the camera. (This actually did happen to me one time with a small green monkey at a zoo in Tenerife and it was less “picture postcard” than “scared out of my wits”, so maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all).

It was a hot day, a very hot day, and like all sane people I had waited until midday, the hottest part of the day, to arrive at the caves – only to discover I had to climb 272 steps to get inside them. Also, there were no monkeys in sight. Had I paid any money to enter, I would have been asking for it back right about then. But unlike most other tourist attractions in Malaysia, this one was actually free, so I had nothing to complain about. Like the trooper that I am, I set off up the steps, sweating and panting and thinking to myself that leggings had been a bad choice.

Arriving at the top, I saw ahead of me a gaggle of tourists (is “gaggle” the correct collective noun?) which could only have meant one thing: live monkey action. I scurried towards them and sure enough, there were a whole group of monkeys staring at the tourists in anticipation of being given a fresh coconut or something equally as entertaining to play with.

I have heard horror stories of monkeys in Malaysia running away with loose cameras, sunglasses and food if you don’t keep your wits about you, but these ones seemed content with the odd piece of rubbish or coconut milk that the crowd were throwing to them. They also hung around long enough for me to get some great shots of them in action.

Was it worth the half hour train journey and near-exhaustion of walking 272 steps to see some monkeys play with an empty water bottle I hear you ask? Hell yeah. Also, there was some kind of really impressive Hindu statue there that you might want to check out – you know, if you’re into that kind of thing.