His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej was inspired to initiate this project after recalling monkey behavior he had observed during childhood. After gathering bananas, the monkeys would eat and store the food in their cheeks. As is seen in the Kaem Ling Project, His Majesty used this memory in order to develop a method for flood prevention. In the project, “Monkey cheeks” are the retention areas that prevent water from flooding into Bangkok and metropolitan areas. By excavating the canals along the coastal areas, both east and west of the Chao Phraya River, the project created big storage reservoirs, or Kaem Ling (Monkey Cheek), which naturally drain floodwater away.