This is the astonishing moment a wild monkey was seen hand-washing clothes outside a house in Indonesia.

Ayu Sarasyani, 24, went inside for a rest and left the basin with dirty clothes soaking in water and detergent outside their house in South Kalimantan province on November 17.

However, when she returned she found a wild long-tailed monkey imitating how she scrubs dirt off the clothes outside their house.

The monkey sat on the edge of the green basin while dipping the dirty clothes into soapy water before scrubbing.

She said: "I was amazed to see it taking over my work, but I immediately went inside the house afterwards and watched it from my window.

The woman stayed inside while filming the unusual scene out of fear from being attacked in case the animal was startled.

Wild monkeys often come to the area and would stay in empty buildings and houses while searching for food so Ayu thinks the smart primate was separated from the group.

She said: "They come here from time to time and stay for at least two days. They are usually in big groups but this one was alone, so it could have been lost."

Ayu threw a piece of bread and banana to the monkey to distract it from the clothes before it left their front yard. She also made an incident report to the local officials in case the monkey was lost.