A monkey and a 'monkey man' came by the resort we stayed at every few days. The monkey was a 'working monkey' who runs up coconut trees and twists ripe coconuts off the tree as he consults back and forth with his master. Very interesting to watch!! The owner basically grunts at the monkey to tell him what he wants him to do. Occasionally the monkey would seem a little lazy and take long breaks... I'm sure he was tired for good reason --- that's some serious labour!! When monkeys get past working age (ie over 25 or so, I think) their owners send them off to monkey retirement homes. We met a retired monkey in Phuket.