Mountains and Monkeys

During the Chinese National Week holiday (the first week of October) I traveled to Zhongjiajie, a city on the border of Hubei and Hunan provinces. The city itself is very much like any other in mainland China. The attraction is the Zhongjiajie National Forest Park, which is where the movie Avatar was filmed. If you are familiar with the movie, I saw the pillar-like rock structures that the main characters climbed and flew around. Unlike in Avatar, however, the rocks are not floating among the clouds.

When we first entered the park there was a sign that read "Do Not Touch the Monkeys." We had a good laugh, thinking that not only was such advice silly but also pointless. How would a person even be able to attempt to pet a monkey? Halfway up our first trail, we soon learned why such a warning was valid. There were monkeys everywhere, and they were fearless!

Evidently they've become accustomed to being fed by tourists so they linger near the trails. After watching for awhile, I continued hiking and began to eat an apple. Soon enough, two monkeys literally ran onto the path in front of me, standing on their hind legs and eyeing my snack. I felt obligated to share. My friend was walking ahead and was able to snap the photo below. While it is definitely a cool picture, their aggressiveness was unnerving. After giving one a small bite, I got too nervous and threw the remaining apple into the trees, sending both running after it. I still cannot believe how close the monkeys will come to people!

Frankly, the interaction between people and monkeys there is borderline dangerous. To make matters worse, the park actually sells sling-shots. Sadly, there was a little boy who was slinging stones at the animals! Of course, I yelled "Stop that!" But his parents or any other adults around didn't seem to care one bit. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some day in the future newspaper headlines read "Chinese family attacked by monkeys at Zhongjiajie National Forest Park!" So I offer warning: If you ever pay a visit to the park be wary of the primates because apparently the Chinese tourists don't take any precautions.

The other highlight was making it all the way to the top of a mountain! Such a spectacular view! My friends and I hiked about eight miles each day. Good times.