Monkey Beach

One Monday not long ago, we took a trip to Monkey Beach. We parked our car at this beach (I still can't believe this is five minutes from our house) and hired a boat to take us around to another beach on the island. So we headed around to the other side of the buildings in this picture.

The boat dropped us off near the entrance to some hiking trails. We hiked for over an hour. It was a pretty good hike, one that was a bit too much for my Walmart tennis shoes that I'd purchased some 6 or so years ago. So I had to rip the sole off the bottom of one of them and hike another half hour without the sole. Does it give away the quality of my shoe when I say that the foot that did NOT have a sole was just as comfortable as the foot that DID have a sole? Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say both feet were equally UNcomfortable.


 This is Monkey Beach. I would guess that it acquired its name from all the curious gray monkeys that come out of the forest to check out the tourists. When we first arrived I threw my tennis shoes in the trash and one of the workers of the food stalls burned the trash while we were there. Well the monkeys found my shoes and rescued them from the pile of burning rubble. They enjoyed my shoes much more than I ever did. They kept fighting over them and sticking their heads inside. After such a long hike, I figure the fumes from the insides of my shoes would make the monkeys pass out when they stuck their heads in. But they never did. In addition to the gray monkeys we also saw two Malayan Giant Squirrels and a baby monitor lizard.

The above picture shows the rope swing that we found and took turns swinging on. For lunch we ate grilled shrimp, chicken, pork, and sausages with mango and pineapple for dessert.

Not a bad way to spend a Monday I'd say!