Monkey Business at Prang Sam Yod

The old world monkeys of Prang Sam Yod are protectors of the ancient temple.

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Phra Prang Sam Yod was an ancient Hindu temple of the 13th century until it was converted into a Buddhist temple during the reign of King Narai. The three prangs (towers) represents the Hindu Trimurti; Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) and Shiva (the Destroyer). This ancient temple is the most known landmark of the charming town of Lopburi in Thailand.

As soon as we walked onto the holy grounds, we were greeted by a community of macaques (old world monkeys). The locals are well adapted to a large number of macaques and local merchants are there selling food for the macaques.

These old world monkeys have adapted to civilian life and heavily rely on tourists and visitors for food. We started with the outside landscape of the temple and tried getting close to some of the macaques.

There's an exotic appeal outside of the main temple because of the monkeys but once inside, it's all about the ancient architecture. The stones that make up the temple literally just sit on top of each other and the size is remarkable considering most of the stones didn't originate there. This adds a bit of mystery to the ancient temple and drew us in, to the allure of its history.

We will definitely come back to visit our new monkey friends.