Thread: Monkeys!! Khao-Toe-Sae Mountain, Phuket

North of Phuket City is Toe-sae Mountain (Khao Tosae) - just go straight up Surin Road on the east of Phuket City and keep going. (Google Earth: 7°53'48.49"N 98°23'42.59"E )

There's a road all the way to the top - where there are radio and TV station transmitters - and it's a popular exercise area, with an outdoor facility area about 3/4 the way up:




Most people just walk up and down, although "just" isn't really the right word as it's a very steep mountain, but today there were quite a few people using the exercise area.

There's a temple half way up, before the exercise area, and near a small car park:




I sometimes park there and walk up, but often I park near the exercise machines further up. The pavement is sheltered from the sun most of the way up by plants growing up a trellis:




These plants have banana scented yellow flowers which some people collect:




I used to put them on the dash board, but the smell is too overpowering - and you have to watch out for the ants! Maybe a Phuket local can say what these flowers are called.

At different places up the mountain are the families of monkeys. There are three families that I have seen, each having a "boss" male who takes care of them. This is the boss of the group who live near the top:




I always make sure he gets fed first to save fights later on. He can be a real b*stard if he sees some smaller monkey grab the food while he's still hungry!

Most of the monkeys are quite wary about getting too close...




...so they sometimes find an easier source of food:




I guess that's where "cheeky monkey" comes from.

Some monkeys are tame/brave/hungry enough to take food from your hand:




...and may even eat out of it (not recommended!):




Several times I have met an old Thai man feeding the monkeys fruit from his green pick-up. I discovered recently that he's called "Pae-hok" and has been doing this for nearly 10 years. There was an article about him in a local magazine - The Dibuk Guide:




But today I didn't see Pae-hok and the monkeys were very hungry. A Thai man who walked up with us thought it was very helpful for him to call the monkeys down from the mountain for us. But I'd rather walk past them and call them myself - then I can drop the peanuts behind me so that the road in front is clear. But that wasn't an option today. We were caught in the monkey avalanche:





A few times I felt my foot come into contact - quite accidentally of course - with the furry belly of a hungry monkey as I tried to keep walking up the mountain, and once we'd managed to get ahead of them, a quick look back confirmed that we were not alone:




Apart from the hungry guys, there's always the loners who just sit around, looking a little sad. Maybe they used to be the boss and will get some food when the coast is clear:




I like to give the mums extra food if I can, especially if they have a new-born clinging on:




This one was tugging at my g/f's shirt as if to say "What about us?":




And after feeding time... not much else to do really, just hang around watching the world go by:

Excellent photostory.

the monkeys seem quite friendly.......

near where i live there is a reservoir with a bit of jungle. bloody monkeys are a pain in the arse.

one time when i took my son there a monkey stole his milk bottle and was off up a tree drinking from it......

i was in trouble when i got back home as we only had one bottle and as it was chinese new year all the shops were shut.

Took some more pictures on Saturday, but there weren't many monkeys - I think someone had already fed them. This guy was quite happy to see us though:




There's also a cat family that's been there for a few years. Only mum was visible today (or was it dad?):




She didn't much like the attention of the approaching monkey though. There was a lot of spitting and hissing and running soon after I took this photo.




The cat and monkey weren't too happy either.

Great shots. Thanks!