Lopburi Monkey Buffet: Eat-All-You-Can Chaos
The Lopburi Monkey Buffet: Thailand’s Wildest All-You-Can-Eat Food Fight Once a year in the ancient town of Lopburi, central Thailand, hundreds of monkeys gather for a buffet so chaotic it makes human brunch look like a silent retreat. It’s called the Lopburi Monkey Buffet Festival, and it’s part religious offering, part tourist spectacle, and part full-blown monkey circus of destruction. Lopburi is home to thousands of long-tailed macaques, especially around the Khmer-style Phra Prang Sam Yod temple, which they have pretty much claimed as their own monkey kingdom. In response, the locals have wisely decided, “If you can’t beat them, feed them.” So every year sometime in November (check your calendar), residents put on a feast for the furry freeloaders. We’re talking heaps of bananas, pineapples, sticky rice, corn, watermelon, and Coca-Cola, all laid out on banquet tables like some surreal royal reception where the guests arrive swinging from lamp posts and pooping on the appetizers. ...