Monday, April 12, 2010

Monkeys!

We decided to finally go to the Bukit Timah Hill for a climb yesterday morning. Picked Wen and Ching up on my way there, and met Jeanne at the carpark.

As per all our Sunday morning jaunts, Ching bought some coffee and bao for breakfast, so we'd have some fuel before setting off. I was innocently standing there with Wen, and grabbed a bao from the plastic bag that Ching was carrying and had already peeled off the paper skin, when I noticed two monkeys (macaques?) STALKING me and greedily eyeing my bao.

In that split second I had to decide what to do. Run? What if they chased after me? Try to hold the bao away from them? What of they attacked and tried to grab the bao out of my hands? Stuff the bao into my mouth? What if they attacked and gouged the bao out of my mouth?

So I did what any normal person would do. I screamed and threw the bao at them. It was in self defense!

Soon after the monkeys gleefully ran off with their loot, we saw families of monkeys eyeing us, as if to check out if we had more food. Omg.

While still in shock, an elderly park warden came up to us and pointed to the 'Do Not Feed The Monkeys' sign. He said had he not witnessed us being frightened and throwing the bao as a reaction, he'd have to take down our particulars and that the consequences would be very bad. He told us that the monkeys were human beings too, with emotions and that we had to treat them like children. Er ok. He even pointed out a mating pair of monkeys to prove how similar they were to us.

Anyway we asked what the correct reaction should have been, and all he could say was that we should have eaten before heading there. Ok. Doesn't answer my question though. (According to Reuben, you just walk away with your bao. He also says I have no balls now. It's SELF DEFENSE!)

We started the climb up and the initial part was really steep but it was still quite manageable. 15 minutes into the climb and we were at the summit already. Wtf? It was so anti-climatic! We walked back down, decided to explore some of the other paths for another hour or so then headed off to have breakfast.

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