As noted previously, we stayed in Langkawi, Malaysia for a relaxing weekend.  We stayed at a pretty nice resort. The resort had a great beach. It was on the edge of a nature preserve.  The resort was protecting a natural coral reef. It had a small coral nursery where they were promoting the growth of new coral.  There was wildlife all over this place.  There were nice butterflies. Slightly annoying mosquitoes were present. I saw a rare colugo (flying lemur of South East Asia) which I had never seen before. Also, there was an interesting dusty leaf monkey that looks like it has white rings around the eyes.

But the most interesting has to be the macaque, an old world monkey.  I have shared this story with a handful of people. It seems to be a trait of monkeys across Asia, as I’ve heard similar stories from various people.  After a long afternoon on the beach, we enjoyed drinks and got some well-deserved sun. We collected our beverages and a small bowl of peanuts. We were munching on those to take them back to our room to get ready for dinner. On our walk, we came across a macaque about mid-way up a tree acting all innocent.  We put down our drinks, including a can of soda. We also set down the bowl of peanuts. This allowed us to get our camera out and take a few photos of this posing macaque.  It seemed as though not even 1 second passed before about 6 other macaques jumped out of the bushes. They quickly laid claim to our drinks and our nuts!!  I really thought that they might try to make off with my sandals too!!  They have perfected the sleight-of-hand trick. One poses for unknowing tourists to put down their food and possessions. Then, a handful of others wait to make off with the goods!!! We ended up watching these guys climb the walls onto various balconies and even break one of the balcony umbrellas.  I’d say they outwitted the humans that day.

Canon 7D  | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55 mm | f/2.8 | 1/60th | ISO400

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 31 mm | f/2.8 | 1/40th | ISO125