Monkey Mountain

On David's birthday, last month, Hugo, David and I headed off to Monkey Mountain, in the New Territories. About twenty minutes by bus from busy Kowloon, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a national park. I'd heard about the monkeys from others, and read some scary blogs about how you mustn't take plastic shopping bags into the park, or food, and it wasn't really suitable for young children.

At the entrance we used, there was a board with instructions about the monkeys. We were intrigued by the advice not to stare the monkeys in the eyes....

We got in, and started walking. Finally, we saw a couple of monkeys, then a few more. We were in a spot where there were about ten on the path, or nearby, when we entered the Hitchcock zone. David took his backpack off to get his camera out. Suddenly the trees started rustling and dozens of monkeys started coming at us. Hugo seemed stressed between cries of, "Let's just run for it!" and, "Don't stare them in the eyes, MUM!!!!!" We made it out of there, alive, but only just. Those tiny cute little monkeys look absolutely terrifying when they pull back their lips and bare their yellow, pointy no-doubt-disease-inducing teeth. But the babies are so cute!!!

It was a fun day.