Floods & Monkey Business

This year Thailand experiences the worst flood in over 50 years. Our temple, which has never experienced a flood situation, was waist deep in water for nearly a month. The only way to move around was by boat. Even in this national disaster, the Thai people never lost their smiles and compassion for their fellow humans. To watch how Thais went out of their way to rescue both people and animals from flood waters, with an extremely dangerous current, was an experience that deeply touched my heart. The monks at our temple, made their rounds by boat every morning, handing us nuns dried foods and water and whatever else they had to share with us. Their care and concern was obvious throughout the ordeal.

In these last few days, however, the floodwaters at the temple subsided and until now, there is still a massive cleanup in progress. An immigration issue forced me to travel from Ayutthaya to Lopburi today. This was my first time out since the floods arrived on October 7^th, exactly a month ago. Throughout the floods, I was confined to my hut at the temple with a German shepard female for company. There was basically no dry place available for the temple dogs, and both nuns and monks did their best to provide them with a dry place to sleep and food.

My trip to Lopburi was uneventful, though I was surprised as to how quickly I reached my destination, even after having to transfer to 2 different minibuses. My encounter with the Lopburi immigration dept. was equally uneventful and I was quickly whisked through. What struck me on the way to Lopburi, was that although the roads were dry, there were tents set up along the side of the roads, which housed not only people, but cows, buffalos and goats as well. Some people had lost everything and many houses were still flooded, often right up to the roof. Water levels were only about 5 inches lower than the road, which means that it may still be another 2 to 3 months before people can return to what was once their homes, and try to salvage what they can. Those who still have a house to salvage can consider themselves lucky. The flash floods came with such force that in some cases, the entire house was washed away!!

After my errands were completed, I decided to take the minibus that goes to Bangkok, because it would certainly pass Ayutthaya. Little did I realize that there was a surprise in store for me! This entire area of Lopburi was filled with long-tailed macaques. These monkeys virtually owned the town! They would walk along the road in groups of 5 or more, with absolutely no regard for traffic. The people of this town were obviously used to this. At one shop, a monkey was busy picking up stuff, sitting on a stool, while the owner of the shop made coffee. At another sundry shop, the monkeys were picking things out of the shop waste-basket. The people themselves went on with their daily routine as if the monkeys weren’t there! The monkeys on the other hand, more or less ignored the people unless something, like a shiny pair of earrings or a shiny hairclip caught their attention. I noticed a couple of the monkeys that were eating bananas and other fruits which someone probably gave them.  In yet another shop, the monkeys were playing with things from the shop, “checking it out” so to speak.  The owners of the shop ignored the monkeys. It may well be the case that to acknowledge this “monkey business”, may incur the wrath of the macaques, I don’t know. Whatever the case, the monkeys were busy with their monkey business and the humans tended to their own business and everyone seemed to do just fine. To see people living in such harmony with nature was indeed an experience not quickly forgotten. It showed me that it is definitely possible to live in harmony with other creatures. There simply was no conflict to be seen anywhere!! I’m sure that the occasional “misunderstanding” occurred from time to time, but it certainly wasn’t visible today. Although I am no lover of monkeys, today’s experience was certainly a lesson in humility!!