Day Six

So there are monkeys here. Its very interesting. Though they represent more of a nuisance than anything else to the people that live here, they can't do anything about it: as they are buddhists, they can't bring themselves to kill the animals. Its the same things with the wild dogs everywhere, even though they are sickly mange ridden and probably rabid, they let them die naturally. Its really quite strange, as the don't seem to have any problems eating chicken, or pork, or cow. For some reasons the animals that should be killed are left to be pests.

Of course there is another side to the story. Though the monkeys are a nuisance, for instance the police walk around with slingshots to keep them from knawing on peoples cars and crapping on them, they also bring in a lot of tourist dollars. So apparently every year the people here have a festival thanking the monekys for making their city prosperous. If it weren't for the fact that they treat the dogs similarly, I would think that they keep the monkeys around only for that reason.

Nevertheless it is a sight to be seen. I just hope that none of them crap on me.

On another note, I had my first run in with what was most likely a food borne illness. Luckily it was a fairly mild case. But it did require an urgent return to my hotel room.

I have three suspicous incidents in mind for the culprit.

1. In Ayuthya, at the Baan Lotus guest house, I may have recieved a bottle of water which had been refilled with tap water. I believe that the seal on the cap was broken when I got it, but I could be mistaken.

2. I ate Pad Thai from a street vendor. The food was prepared hot and fresh in front of me, however.

3. I ordered a beer with a meal, and didn't notice until too late that the bottom of the cup had about an inch of ice in it. At first I thought that maybe it was one of those cups with the ice inside the glass, until it popped up and started floating.

I think number 3 is the most likely.