Relax - S’pore tourist attacked by four monkeys in China over handbag

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[Top photo - BITE MARKS: Madam Quek (right) showing where she was bitten. She was visiting China's Mount Emei where monkeys like the one above roam freely.]

SHE was taking in the winter sights of China's famous Mount Emei when four monkeys suddenly attacked her, leaving her bloodied and shaken.

The monkeys left teeth marks on 55-year-old Singaporean housewife Rebecca Quek, despite her wearing three layers of clothing, including a jacket and corduroy pants.

She suffered injuries to her head, buttocks and arms and was given outpatient treatment at a Chinese hospital.

The incident happened late last week.

Madam Quek and seven friends had signed up for an eight-day tour of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and the scenic region of Jiuzhaigou.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the tour group visited Mount Emei, a Unesco World Heritage Site known for its ancient monasteries and breathtaking scenery.

She had hired a sedan chair to the summit as her legs were too weak for the climb. For the return trip, however, she decided to walk.

Halfway down, she said she and her group of friends passed a big fat monkey, which stood at more than half a metre tall.

"The monkey looked at me, and I looked right back at it," said she said.

Suddenly, the monkey lunged for her handbag.

"I fought back as my handbag contained my money and passport," she said.

She said during the struggle, she fell forward, clutching her handbag to her chest.

Teeth

As she lay sprawled face-down on the mountain path, she felt the monkey jump on her back and bite the back of her head.

"I could feel its teeth," she said.

Seeing this, three smaller monkeys jumped out from the jungle and joined in the attack, biting her on her buttocks and left arm.

Her group of friends, who were in their 50s and 60s, were so shocked by the attack that some fell backwards.

Madam Jenny Wong, a 60-year-old office assistant, said it was a horrible sight as the monkeys looked like they were eating her alive.

"And then, some of them looked like they were coming for us."

The monkeys left only when the tour guide gave them a few hard kicks.

"I told him, whack the monkeys, but he said the monkeys had already retreated. There's no need to whack them anymore," said Madam Quek. "I was furious."

The temperature at the time was about 5 deg C, and she was wearing corduroy pants, thermal pants, two sweaters and a jacket.

But that did not stop the monkeys from biting through her clothing.

With blood streaming down her head, she staggered down the mountain over the next 15 minutes, helped by her friends, who pressed tissue paper onto her head to stem the bleeding.
At a first aid station at a car park, she was treated by a doctor.

"He looked nonchalant about the whole thing," said Madam Quek. Her friends, in contrast, were "crying loudly".

The treatment lasted 20 minutes, during which Madam Quek said their bus driver allegedly threw a tantrum and got into an argument with their tour guide over the delay.

On the bus ride to a restaurant for dinner, the entire bus was quiet, said Madam Quek.

"At the restaurant, I apologised to everyone. I told them I was sorry I had ruined their trip," she said.

After dinner, the tour guide took her to a hospital in a nearby town.

She was given medication and several injections. The tour guide picked up the tab, which amounted to about 200 yuan ($40).

When Madam Quek returned to the hotel, her friend Madam Wong, upon seeing her bandages, hugged her and burst out crying.

Sleep

That night, Madam Quek didn’t sleep much.

The remainder of the holiday went smoothly, although she was unable to take part in some of the activities, such as swimming and massages.

Before leaving for home, she wrote a thank-you letter to her tour guide, for "taking such good care of me".

The group returned to Singapore early Wednesday morning and she went for follow-up treatment at a clinic near her Clementi West home.

"This is the first time an attack like this has happened to our customers," said Miss Stella Chow, marketing manager at Hong Thai Travel, which has been organising tours to Mount Emei for more than 10 years.

She heard from her China partners, however, that such incidents happen occasionally at Mount Emei.

"Sometimes, people feed the monkeys, get scared halfway and start throwing food at them. The monkeys may interpret this as aggression," said Miss Chow.

"They may also feel threatened when tourists walk in groups or make sudden movements.

"The mountain is, after all, the monkeys' home."

This article was first published in The New Paper.

S’pore tourist attacked by four monkeys in China over handbag

By Ng Tze Yong, The New Paper | Sun, Nov 1 2009

Incident at Mount Emei leaves 55-year-old housewife with injuries to her head, buttocks and arms.

S’pore tourist attacked by four monkeys in China over handbag

Keywords

sichuan

monkey

unesco