Whats your favorite animal?

Ever since I was a child my favorite animal was a monkey. My bed would be lined with rows of monkey stuffed animals and my walls would have posters plastered all over them with monkeys also. They just seemed so cute and cuddly and gentle. I thought it would be the coolest thing in the world to have a pet monkey of my own! Of course as I got older I eventually gave my monkey stuffed animals away and those posters were changed to N'sync posters and then eventually just plain white walls, but up until this year monkeys
still held the title of my favorite animal.

My trip to Malaysia and Indonesia was the game changer. We went to a place called the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur which was a huge cave inside of a mountain. There was a gorgeous gold statue in the front that was almost as big as the mountain, so immediately I was in awe of this destination! When the van parked we hoped out of the car and saw monkeys running around everywhere. They were jumping onto cars, on and off of buildings, and scurrying across telephone lines. It was so bizarre! I began to walk up to one to take a picture when our tour guide informed us that some of the monkeys were very aggressive, so please be careful. From that moment on, nothing was the same. We got into the caves and saw monkeys all around us and I was absolutely terrified. Who would have ever thought that the gentle, sweet monkeys I dreamed about in my childhood, were actually being called aggressive? All I could think about was one of them jumping onto me, biting me, and giving me rabies and me dying. Honestly, that was my train of thought. Just to take this picture, I was so nervous:

The highlight of my moneky filled horror was when we saw a Mama monkey with babies. I figured she may be protective, but she was probably nicer than the rest of the monkeys, so I just kept my eyes on her to try to not be so scared. As I grabbed hands with my friend and ran out of the cave, heart pounding and sweating all over, I realized my childhood fantasties about monkeys were just that; fantasties. A part of me was so sad that day as I realized my favorite animal had a dark side, but soon all sadness would turn to amazement as we got to Indonesia a few days later.

Something we knew we had to do while on our trip in Bali was to ride an elephant. So many people rant and rave about the experience so we ventured to the Bali Elephant Camp in Ubud one day. As we waited for our turn I watched these enormous animals walk around the camp with such grace and beauty. There is something so breathtaking about something so strong and yet so gentle. When our turn came to ride the elephants they asked us to stand up on a platform and the elephant would walk up to us and we would hop onto the seat on its back which would be level with us. We watched a few other people do it first and admired the elephants as they got closer. One couple was not on the platform so as the elephant walked up to the platform he had to wait there for a minute before his passengers arrived. I don't know what came over me, maybe I had more courage after my terrifying monkey experience, but I just bent down and reached my hand out as if to say hello. The elephant immediately moved its trunk towards my hand like it wanted to touch my hand. It then rested its trunk on the platform and I just looked into its eyes at this kind and gentle beast.

 

 

Our elephant came and it was just as sweet and fun as the friend I had just made on the platform. Her name was Jessica and she had a great personality that we got to see throughout our 30 minute ride. She was smart, she was beautiful, and she was even a little sassy. But the best part about all the elephants we encountered was that there was just so much promise and hope in their eyes. Not a mean streak, or bit of anger that would come out of them. They embodied every characteristic that I envision my favorite animal to have. I now love these large, gentle, kind animals and can't wait until I get to see another one!