Monkey Festival Returns to Town in Thailand
2021-12-02
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1A Thai town's popular "monkey festival" returned Sunday after a two-year break caused by the pandemic.
2The fun event takes place in Lopburi in central Thailand.
3There, thousands of monkeys eat large amounts of fruits and vegetables.
4The animals can be seen climbing on people and colorful fruit formations made of pineapples, bananas and even costly durians.
5"Today's special is durian, which is expensive. Lopburi monkeys like expensive things," said Yongyuth Kitwatananusont.
6She has organized over 30 monkey festivals.
7The huge fresh meal costs over $3,000.
8It is a yearly tradition for locals in Lopburi to thank the monkeys for doing their part in bringing tourists to the area,
9which is sometimes known as "Monkey Province."
10The event takes place on the last Sunday in November.
11The theme for this year's festival was wheelchair monkeys.
12Yongyuth, the event organizer, planned to donate 100 wheelchairs to needy people.
13Tourists have been slowly returning to Thailand after the government launched a quarantine-free travel plan for vaccinated visitors in November.
14The country saw more than 100,000 travelers in November.
15That is as many as the number of arrivals in the first 10 months of 2021 combined.
16The festival proved to be a popular event this year.
17Tourists were seen playing with monkeys with their cameras.
18"I'm really happy to get to see this and now I'm thinking about going to the next festival," said Ayoub Boukhari, a visitor from Morocco.
19"It's quite unexpected and the monkeys are quite silly."
20The return of the tradition also pleased locals.
21"It's the first time in two years that monkeys get to eat all kinds of fruits and vegetables," said Lopburi local Thanida Phudjeeb.
22"I'm happy for them."
23I'm Ashley Thompson.
1A Thai town's popular "monkey festival" returned Sunday after a two-year break caused by the pandemic. 2The fun event takes place in Lopburi in central Thailand. There, thousands of monkeys eat large amounts of fruits and vegetables. The animals can be seen climbing on people and colorful fruit formations made of pineapples, bananas and even costly durians. 3"Today's special is durian, which is expensive. Lopburi monkeys like expensive things," said Yongyuth Kitwatananusont. She has organized over 30 monkey festivals. 4The huge fresh meal costs over $3,000. It is a yearly tradition for locals in Lopburi to thank the monkeys for doing their part in bringing tourists to the area, which is sometimes known as "Monkey Province." The event takes place on the last Sunday in November. 5The theme for this year's festival was wheelchair monkeys. Yongyuth, the event organizer, planned to donate 100 wheelchairs to needy people. 6Tourists have been slowly returning to Thailand after the government launched a quarantine-free travel plan for vaccinated visitors in November. The country saw more than 100,000 travelers in November. That is as many as the number of arrivals in the first 10 months of 2021 combined. 7The festival proved to be a popular event this year. Tourists were seen playing with monkeys with their cameras. 8"I'm really happy to get to see this and now I'm thinking about going to the next festival," said Ayoub Boukhari, a visitor from Morocco. "It's quite unexpected and the monkeys are quite silly." 9The return of the tradition also pleased locals. 10"It's the first time in two years that monkeys get to eat all kinds of fruits and vegetables," said Lopburi local Thanida Phudjeeb. "I'm happy for them." 11I'm Ashley Thompson. 12The Reuters news agency reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. 13______________________________________________________ 14Words in This Story 15festival -n. a special time or event when people gather to celebrate something 16expensive -adj. costing a lot of money 17tourist -n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure 18theme -n. the subject or idea on which the style of something is based 19wheelchair -n. a chair with wheels that is used by people who cannot walk because they are disabled, sick, or injured 20silly -adj. playful and funny