A walk along the beach to the Monkeys

We arrived in Hua Hin on Christmas Eve. I'm not sure why I decided to go here, but it is somewhat between Bangkok and Phuket, where we're going next, and I thought it would be a nice calm little place.
I'll create a Hua Hin guide before we leave, and in this post I will instead show you how we spent our Saturday.
We usually wait to stroll on the beach and swim until at least 3 pm to avoid too strong sun. But once the afternoon hits and the sun becomes softer and rounder around the edges, we head out.

Hua Hin has a long beach going from north to south.

I think we walked for almost an hour until we reached the mountain and the golden Buddha at the very end of the beach. Alex might have had a destination goal in his head the whole time, but I was simply putting one foot along the other, not thinking about anything, so I was a bit surprised when we arrived, and Alex said we were now at Monkey Mountain.

We climbed the steep stairwell, and I obviously ended up a bit behind. I don't understand how I, the one of us that actually works out, always ends up losing?
I did think it was a bit stupid going on this adventure without the slightest of snacks or water and I let my opinion be known.

The view from the top was really nice, but the real fun part started when we ventured a bit further in, and masses of macaque monkeys appeared.

Many lying in small formations, tending to one another, picking lice off. All in all, it looked like a harmonious and nice life. The monkeys are completely uncaged, so it's a good place if you want to see monkeys up close but aren't keen on animals in captivity. Since it's such a big tourist destination, they are super used to humans and don't mind you getting close.

Afterwards, I read that there are bananas and other foods for sale there that you can buy to feed the monkeys with. I missed that but probably wouldn't have wanted to either. Best to keep some distance from them, I think!

There are also dogs lying around the temples, contemplating the big questions in life.

It's all there for you to enjoy for free but there are donation boxes around though, so you can help keep the area up and running and clean and the dogs fed.

I was so tired after this excursion and wished I had known beforehand that we were in for a little adventure. I could have brought more clothes because I was completely mosquito-bitten after this and have been suffering since.