Lopburi

Our last day before heading to Chiang Mai, Jenna and I took a short train ride to Lopburi. The train was so full when we hopped on, we had to stand by the entrance to one of the cars, which was an experience in and of itself. I enjoyed standing there and watching the scenery go by.

Lopburi is famous for historically important Khmer ruins, Phra Prang Sam Yod is absolutely swarming  with monkeys. This was originally a Hindu temple, but was converted to Buddhism by the Khmers. Unfortunately, these monkeys are fed by tourists and are a bit aggressive about getting food. Local people sell popcorn to feed to the monkeys and for this reason there are hordes of them. It was worth seeing once but as a biologist, it was hard to watch. A young monkey startled me by jumped up and grabbing my shoulder when I was still for too long trying to take a photo. After that we kept moving and finished walking around the temple.

When I saw this, I was reminded so much of the leash children that you see in Disney world, that I just had to snap a photo. Monkeys need to keep their young in check too ;)

If you look closely, you can see monkeys sitting in the crook of Buddha's elbow and on His shoulder.

Here are some other Khmer ruins.

We walked across these tracks to get back to the train station after spending a little over an hour in Lopburi. It was the perfect afternoon jaunt!