One of the Hua Hin attractions is a small hill at the end of the beach called Khao Takiab (aka Monkey Mountain). We decided to walk there on a lovely Saturday to go see what it was all about.
As soon as we arrived at the base of the hill, we saw monkeys hanging around the rocks along the seashore, all along the paths and on stairways up the hill. There are warnings all over the internet not to bring food here or the monkeys will attack and bite you for it, so we came completely empty-handed. As you walk between them, some even approach to check you out, so it's immediately clear that they're not at all afraid of humans.
Where this place gets its nickname became even more evident as we reached the top and encountered hordes of monkeys scurrying around. The funny (or sad?) thing is that there's a huge sign that says "Do not feed the monkeys in this area" and about 10 paces later, there are locals selling food for tourists to buy to feed to the monkeys. We happened to be there while other tourists bought food to feed them.. hence the gathering swarm. It was pretty crazy to witness such a large number of monkeys all converging to one point, hissing, screeching, and jumping on each other to get food.
After the feeding stopped, some dispersed, but many still blocked our path to the temple. Walking through them felt like an eerie scene from The Birds.
We also saw the fattest chunky monkey of them all! When we arrived, it was sitting with a real/live cat and petting it on the head like a human would! The cat was loving it - pretty cute!
