Saturday, March 7, 2009

Monkey Mountain

From Prayers from the Ark by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold
Translated by Rumer Godden


The Prayer of the Monkey

Dear God, Why have You made me so ugly? With this ridiculous face, Grimaces seem asked for! Shall I always be The clown of Your creation? Oh, who will lift this melancholy from my heart? Could You not, one day, Let someone take me seriously, Lord? Amen.


Just a few photos from our trip to "Monkey Hill" in Hong Kong (also known as Kam Shan Country Park), where Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatte) monkeys run wild. This is a non-native species, the multiplied descendants of escaped pets. It is forbidden to feed the monkeys, and stories abound of tourists getting bit and mauled by hordes of them, when they've brought food into the park and there wasn't enough to go around. Wayne went again last week with some students, and reported that it was a little like a scene out of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". Definitely another unique Hong Kong experience!
Monkey Mountain

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