would you take your kids to monkey island?

Since we don't tend to shy away from semi-sketchy experiences for our children, when we heard of Monkey Island, an island off the coast of Hua Hin where monkeys roam free and legend says, any dog who sets foot on the island dies, how could we pass it up? Hey, I might go there just to keep my flip-flops safe from Gryff. 

We paid $20 for the boat and headed out there. That morning when I told Elie where we were going she insisted the monkeys were going to be behind gates. Her American mind is clearly still trying to comprehend Thailand.

I have to include pictures of Dan and his kids so my mom will remember what they look like. Mom, this means I get Dan's Christmas presents, right?

On the way there, E gave us her best monkey impressions.

And that's where the smiles ended.

When you get there the beach is empty and you start thinking this is some kind of tourist trap. Then you  the monkeys start appearing all over and you realize this may indeed be a tourist trap, just in a slightly more nefarious way.

The monkeys had NO fear of humans. They walked right up to us and started climbing all over.

Dan with his "tough" smile. This is clearly before he was bit and contracted rabies.

Devon was the favorite of the monkeys. He always had at least one monkey--usually more.

I, on the other hand, was the least favorite and made Rocky bribe this monkey to get on my shoulder. right after this picture was taken, he jumped off. It's like they could sense I don't like animals.

Not sure what they sensed from Rocky.

Or Devon.

Not as cute as you remember monkeys being, are they?

The kids were all the the first ones back on the boat. The adults were having a blast. 

After the children had demanded we leave, our driver took us on a tour of the islands. We weren't really sure what was going on as he was a local fisherman and spoke no English and Mary, who is five, is probably the best Thai speaker on our boat. 

After about 30 minutes we stopped at this beach and Dan asked me to take these pictures:

  

The alternative was them bringing these "fossils" home. Or him buying a camera. I did it as I'm sure the fossil obsession started with Eliot, though she still calls them "fossums".

After that we used our best sign language and got home soon. It was for the best.

Turns out seasickness runs in the family.

So, would you take your kids to monkey island?