David's Gatlog

First off, No they are not “Sooooo cute and adorrrrable”. These clever little bastards are as evil and plotting as demon spawn.  If you haven’t already read the first hand account of this encounter, check this (click here) out first.

For some odd reason, in all the prep work we all did for this adventure, the word “monkeys” never seemed to come up.  That or perhaps it was overlooked whenever the thought of elephants arose. Anyhow…it surprised us all when, as we found ourselves alone (for the first time) walking down a wooded pathway to a distant temple ruin, a couple of monkeys crossed our path. A baby monkey no less, the existence of which is enough to turn any mid-20 year old woman into a complete emotional mess.

For a brief moment the 4 of us went unnoticed by said monkeys, that was until the girls shrills of excitement sparked the attention of what had to be the elder monkey. Seen above, he had to be the responsible party for our eventual defeat.

Ignorantly, we approached these little monsters.  Somewhere in the back of my brain was a warning, I kept envisioning that clip from America’s Funniest Videos, where the innocent looking monkey terrorizes grandma and grandpa…but I chose to ignore my better self and keep snapping away with my camera.

Slowly, more and more monkeys started appearing from the woods to our right. Still…no red flags had been triggered and the baby monkey was getting closer to us and stealing away the girls hearts  more and more with every step closer.

Before we knew it, we were all within 5 feet of each other. Jessica carrying my backpack, me trigger happy with the camera, Melinda in her animal loving coma, and Clayton slowly coming to the realization that all was not well in the happy land of Cambodian Monkeys.

And then it happened. Conveniently, or perhaps all part of the plan, a pretty little butterfly landed on Clayton’s elbow.  Clay and I both were distracted, just what the evil monkeys needed to spring into action.  I started telling Clayton to be “one with the butterfly” as I pranced around trying to get a close up of the stupid insect.

Meanwhile, Jessica and Melinda had crouched down to monkey level to try to…. well I’m not sure what the hell they were trying to do exactly. I think we all knew petting monkeys probably wasn’t the brightest of ideas, but still…crouched down on their knees thet remained.

By the time Clayton and I awoke from our pretty butterfly trance, we realized what was already happening. The cute little baby monkey had positioned himself in front of the girls who now had their backs to the rest of the pack. The wise elder looking monkey was making his move.

“uhh…..backpack!” Clayton murmured trying to get the girls attention to stand up…

But the girls were lost…in love with their little friend. Suckers.

At that moment precisely, the elder monkey made his move and in one quick motion had swiped a can of coke out of the back pocket of the backpack strapped to Jessica’s back. Jessica quickly turned around and once she realized what had happened, she tried to get the can back…

bad choice…

From sweet and cute to terrorist monkey in about 2 seconds flat.

Fangs glaring and hissing like some sort of spawn of satan the monkey was not going to part with his new aluminum treasure. At about this moment, Jessica and Melinda screamed a blood curdling screech shaking every tree within 400 meters of us with enough force to send flocks of birds scattering for the clouds.

We slowly backed away from the hissing monster and watched as he chugged what was left of the coke like he had been drinking for years.

This site, as funny as it is, combined with the near death experience, prompted Jessica and Melinda to burst out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. So much so, that they did not notice the fact that the rest of the monkey pack was making their way for whatever remained in that backpack.

3 Monkeys approached Jessica from the front and one was trying to reach the backpack up on her shoulders.

I jumped in and scared off the monkeys approaching my beloved, and Melinda yelled with all her might…

“RUNNNNN!!!!!”

And so the girls ran, and left Clayton and I to fend off the pack of rabid monkeys who thought chasing the girls would be a great idea.

Some how, we managed…not as easy as it sounds…and we made our way down the path to provide more backup for Jess and Mimi.

Frolicking in their victory, the pack rejoiced, mocking us as we watched them from the safety of the temple walls.

Jessica and Melinda recounting their exit strategy.

The gang bound by a new found hatred/respect for evil monkeys.

Oh yeah, and the temple was nice too. There was a lake…and some 2000+ year old ruins, but who cares about that… theyre were freaking evil monkeys man!

Crazy.

Part 3 to come soon. I’ll get back to the amazing temples that surround Angkor Wat, some incredible photos for sure. Be sure to check back.