Crazy Monkeys

(Auckland, NZ CS Host House 430pm 10.30.08)
Next morning (10.6.08) was another typical day; however I only had a one couple on the kayak tour. We went a way I had never been before and found a couple nice little beaches, well except for all the plastic, slippahs and medical waste that had drift up. We even found a syringe! After the kayak tour I was able to get 8 people that wanted a photo package of them climbing. Slo decided to let me “anchor” in at the top of the 4th climb using 10 quick draws connected to the U bolts at the top of the route. I was then able to move around just enough to get the angels I needed while the climbers came up. Climber after climber I shot the same shots over and over. Keep in mind it takes about 15 for each climber to make the route. So I ended up being up there for over 2 hours! For those of you that aren’t familiar with climbing…. Being in a harness for 2 hours is NOT comfortable at all! Not to mention I didn’t have any water and was being blasted by the sun the whole time. In between climbers I would retreat back into a small cave on the wall and sit for a minute until the next climber was on the line. After a long day up the air I was finally lowered down and we headed back to Cat Ba. On the boat ride back I began to feel a lil scratch in the back of my throat. Another night at the bar is what I had to look forward to as the scratch in my throat turned to a head and body ache. Next morning (10.7.08) I woke up in the afternoon feeling like shit. I had a headache, possible fever and congestion. I just sat around the noble house eating fruit salads, noodles and drinking water all day trying to recover. The fact that I was sick didn’t mean I got the night off, so at 7ish I was at the bar. However I definitely leaned heavier on Bear, my Vietnamese bar back, that night. The following morning (10.8.08) I felt a little better but was still quite weak and congested. I again just kept it low key until Slo told me that he and Dinh were going to the Harbor to climb if I wanted to join. I went along to take photos and see if I would be up for climbing. I ended up trying animal again but got shut down at the exact same spot. Already feeling weak from being sick, I only attempted it a few times before giving up. Another night at the bar and it was time for bed. Next morning (10.9.08) I was surprised that I had another day off work. I was starting to feel better and was about 80% so I again just hung at the noble house all day. I had a mini photo shoot with the crew from the noble house kitchen and servers. They had a really good time with it. The kitchen girls kept to their usual theme of beating me up while Bear took pictures. Luke also had the day off and I was finally able to convince him to go to Monkey Island with me. I had been wanting to go see the monkeys for some time but didn’t have anyone to go with me. Not that I needed the support of another person, I needed a camera operator! He had been climbing all day while I rested. Monkey Island is about 1 ½-2 miles from the harbor so we were going to try to find a motorized basket boat to take us. I had one of the Vietnamese girls write me a note in Vietnamese saying “I need a boat to take me to Monkey Island, wait 30 minutes, and bring me back” I planned to show the note to people at the harbor with 100,000 VND. Eric had already told me that I would cost 200,000 VND, if I could even find someone. Its actually illegal for westerners to ride in the motorized basket boats, I’m not sure why though? When we got to the harbor Luke was certain that his Vietnamese speaking was sufficient and we wouldn’t need my note. He approached a group of men and tried speaking to them but they shook their heads. The problem was that there was a police officer at the harbor building so no one would take us. And he had seen us talking to the men so he probably already knew what was up. We decided to rent a kayak and paddle instead. Our kayak cost 50,000VND and we set off for monkey Island! As we pulled up I was lil uneasy about the fact that there were 4 tour boats and around 60 people on the beach. I told Luke that there couldn’t be monkeys there, or else no one would be laying out in the sand. I had heard from Eric that the monkeys are crazy and will try to attack you. So how could there possibly be crazy monkeys and so many people lying peacefully in the sand?! As pulled the kayak up onto the beach a man dressed in a uniform came over and told us it would cost 20,000 for us to come to the island. I asked him if there were monkeys on the island, because I was hungry and wanted to eat them. He smiled and pointed down the beach and repeated “monkeys, monkeys” I don’t think he understood what I said. As we walked down the beach Luke was skeptical, “I don’t see any monkeys” he told me. “Look up there, in the tree’s, there they are” I replied. You could see a few monkeys jumping from branch to branch, but they were back in the woods a lil ways. I pulled out a banana and began to make a “thuuuck, thuuck, thuuck, thuck” noise with my mouth. Monkeys came rushing towards us from the bushes. Three, then two more, followed by others. Luke was holding camera filming the whole thing and was walking backwards breaking off small pieces of the banana and dropping them in the sand for the monkeys. The large monkey that was following me seemed uninterested in the pieces I had dropped on the ground as he walk right by them focused on the banana in my hands. Meantime two other monkeys had circled around my left hand side. All of a sudden they rushed me. I dropped the banana and took off into a zig zag sprint, hopping and jumping in order not to get scratched by the monkey that was chasing and batting his claws at my legs! I rushed out into the ocean thinking it was my safest bet and I was right. Two monkeys followed me to the waters edge but stopped there. As I tried to come back out they lunged at me. I walked down the beach in the water and took my back pack off to leave it a safe distance away incase I had to go for a swim. As I went through my bag looking for the Ritz crackers I had brought for the monkeys, I noticed that they were on to me. They were making their way down the beach, eyes fixed on my bag. Before I could get it completely zipped up they took off running straight towards me. I again retreated to the water while one of them riffled through my bag and took my ritz, the whole package!! All I could do is snap pictures from the water while he robbed me and then preceded to tear open the package and eat my crackers in front of me. I still had a half package of oreo’s in another part of my bag so I quickly ran and grabbed them. Luke and I took turns feeding the oreo’s to the monkeys from the waters edge while the other took pictures. I took my last banana and tried to draw the monkeys out of the trees one last time to make a video clip, but as soon as they saw the banana they freaked out and rushed me. I dropped it and retreated to the water once again. Grandpa monkey sat and at the banana while “scar face” kept me at waters edge. Every once in a while I would try to walk onto the beach to film a lil closer but he would lunge at me sending me back to the ocean. Now that we had completely ruined every beach go'ers day by awakening the terror of the monkeys we took back off in our kayak for Cat Ba. Back at the bar we showed pictures/movies and recounted the excitement from our adventure on Monkey Island. ( www.youtube.com/timlara )