Today, we braved rain and wind and trekked out to Sha Tin in the New Territories. We visited the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, a peaceful retreat with bamboo groves, pagodas, and pavilions to which people bring food for their ancestors to enjoy in the afterlife.

Walking around the compound, I saw that many of the offerings that been ransacked, with plates and half-eaten food all over the ground. Vagabonds? Bandits? How disrepectful, I thought.

The answer came face to face with me once I turned a corner. A wild monkey was sitting outside one of the pavilions, munching on a pink bun. We stared at each other for a few minutes, me in awe and him stuffing his face. Then his friend appeared, as if telling him, Psst...let's wait 'till these humans are gone, then come back. The two disppeared over the roof of the pavilion.

Sure enough, once we pretended to walk away, the monkeys came back and took some more food before retreating back onto the roof.

I recounted the story to my relatives over dinner. "Oh yeah, Monkey Mountain is just behind the Monastery," my aunt said matter-of-factly. "They're probably stealing food because it's too cold to forage."

Well, I guess monkeys need to eat too.

And apparently wild monkeys sightings in Hong Kong are quite commonplace, like in this photo (scroll about 1/3 down).