Bielief – Tran Bich Ngoc

Lopburi Monkey Festival: The Monkey Buffet of Thailand

Lopburi is one of the first cities to have been built in Thailand . It houses some
spectacular ruins and other beautiful sights like King Narai's Lopburi Palace
and the Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat temple making it much of a hidden
gem. It more often than not goes unnoticed when travellers are building their
itineraries, especially since it is not among the usual cities that tourists come
to Thailand to visit. However, all that changes once every year during the
famous Lopburi Monkey Festival.
 - The venue of the Monkey Buffet Festival
San Phra Kan & Phra Prang Sam Yot Temples

- Time: This festival takes place each year on the last Sunday of November

What is Lopburi Monkey Festival?

The Lopburi Monkey Festival sometimes referred to as the Monkey Banquet, is
a festival that has been taking place since the 1980s after the idea of a local
businessman. His idea was to set up a buffet of fresh fruit and other food for
the monkeys (as Lopburi is home to an extensive monkey population) as an
expression of the town residents' gratitude since they brought in a lot of
tourist revenue for the area.

Over the years, the event has grown considerably in size, and thousands of
tourists from around the globe arrive at Lopburi to share the unique
experience. Each year, over four thousand kilos of food is served up for the
monkeys to feast upon. No different from a human buffet, the food is laid out
on long tables and is prepared lovingly by teams of local chefs working
together.

The monkeys get to enjoy delicious fruit salads, fruit carvings, sticky rice and
even some traditional Thai desserts that are prepared from egg yolks. Just like
any other event in Thailand, food plays a pivotal role in the Lopburi Monkey
Festival, and an array of vendors and food stalls serve up delectable Thai
dishes for the humans to enjoy as well.

Figure 1 Monkey drinking coca-cola at Lopburi Festival

A Brief History of Monkeys in Lopburi

The monkeys are mostly long-tailed macaques and have been living in Lopburi
since way back in the 11th century when the city was taken over by the
Khmers. Many famous buildings were built in this period. When the Khmer
Empire fell in the 17th century, King Narai of Ayutthaya rejuvenated and
modernised the city, but the Khmer ruins remain and are where the monkey
banquet is held each year.

The monkeys live around the Phra Prang Sam Yot temple and the shrine of San
Phra Karn, both Khmer ruins. However, they can be seen all around Lopburi
and don't shy away from human interaction - don't be surprised if a monkey
snatches your food right from your hand!
The monkeys are quite mischievous and often cause damage to the city,
chewing cables for instance. No matter what they get up to, they are always
tolerated as they are said to be descendants of the Monkey King, Hanuman. n
addition, according to the Thai’s notion, monkeys are considered guardians of
the Hindu god Narai, so no one is allowed to harm them. In the Thai version of
The Ramayana (a famous Indian epic), Lopburi was created by Hanuman
himself with the help of his friend, the protagonist of the Ramayana, Lord
Rama. The monkeys are said to bring good fortune and prosperity.( Belief)

Figure 2 Hanuman Statue in Lopburi