Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Salams / Hi all,
I hope those of you celebrating Christmas have had a lovely time and not over indulged in food and the rest, and those not celebrating have managed to have a good break from work !
Lemon House (our home-stay) is now a very quite place, when we first arrived here there were about 25 volunteers, most of them have left to continue with their programmes. So on Christmas Eve there were only 5 of us remaining; Shirley-Ann and me from the 'older' group and three other young ones !
Shirley-Ann and I were supposed to be going to a Spa Retreat on Friday (Christmas Day), but we found out that we were the only ones there and apparently there is not a lot to do and we would have been miles from anywhere....so I used my influencing skills (knew that course would come handy one day !) and gently persuaded our guide Oliver, to check us into a hotel in Bangkok. This was a much better idea, and we spent the day window shopping and people watching down the infamous Khao San Rd !
The popular book 'The Beach' famously described Khao San Road as "the centre of the backpacking universe". This is the base camp of choice for budget backpackers travelling into Thailand and South East Asia. Everything you could need or want can be found here. Packed into a street 1km long are countless budget guesthouses and hotels, internet cafes, restaurants, massage parlours, travel agents, clubs, bars, bookshops, tailors, chemists, market stalls, tattoo shops and much, much more.
We returned to Lemon House on Saturday 26th Dec with our guide Oliver - he's such a funny guy, although he speaks English, its with a Thai slang and we find it a little bit difficult to understand him, but we get there in the end ! He's also nervous and scares very easily, so Shirley-Ann and I are always playing pranks on him, which has us in stitches (cruel I know, but its really funny) !
Outside of Bangkok, there is not a lot of traffic, so its a much pleasant drive between the provinces and boy have we done a lot of travelling in our culture week !
Monday 21 Dec - we (Shirley-Ann, Guinilla & I) had a brilliant start to the culture week. We were driven to Ayutthaya, in our open top taxi, well its actually a small version of a cattle truck (you'll see a pic soon), which took two hours to reach. We visited the Ancient Royal Palace, and saw the remains of a burnt temple, which was built in 1491 and housed a golden Buddha weighing 551lbs. In 1767 the Burmese set fire to the statue in order to melt the gold, destroying both the temple & the statue ! Before walking the grounds of the palace, we managed to squeeze in a twenty minute elephant ride !
After lunch at a nearby restaurant (tasty food), we visited a "Retired Elephant Park" and spent time with the baby and mother elephants - I was really brave and actually touched a baby elephant - and have a picture to prove it! I'm becoming really adventurous aren't I ??!
Got back to Lemon House at 7.30pm and after spraying the room with mossie spray (our nightly ritual) we had an early night in preparation for a hectic following day...........
Tuesday 22 Dec - We woke up at 5.30 and got ready to offer alms to the monks. Our cook had prepared the food and all Shirley -Ann and I had to do was offer the food to the monks as they walked around the streets of the village. We were expecting them at 6am, but they finally turned up at 6.25, just before dawn (loads of mossies at that time of the morning, guess its because our home-stay is on the river). Once we'd handed over the food, I ready my prayers and went back to bed until 8am.
At 9.45, three local monks arrived, they had been invited for lunch and Shirley-Ann and I were given the opportunity to ask them questions about their faith and about themselves too ! Apparently if a Thai man wishes to get married they have to become a monk for at least one month, before tying the knot (obviously this only applies if they follow the Buddhist religion) !
At 3pm we left Lemon House for our overnight stay in the Monastery. The Monastery was in Chai Nat, which is 70km NW of Singburi. Upon arrival, we were introduced to the nuns, monks and the Abbott of the Monastery. we were then taken up to our room, which was completely bare, tiled floor and painted walls, with a window and door !
Using the thin mattresses outside our room, we each made up a so called "bed", left our bags in the room and made our way to Prayer Hall for our first introduction Mediation / Chanting at 5pm. The mediation was done in a "sitting" position and basically we just had to concentrate on our breathing - "In and Out", which sounds easy, but its amazing how your daily thoughts kick into the meditation process. So I had to keep reminding myself to just think of my breathing and nothing else. I think I managed to do this properly for about 5 minutes of the half hour that was allocated !
After meditation, we had some toast (monks only eat once a day - that's what I had got used to in Sri Lanka - haha !), and went to bed at 7.30pm, we only did this as we were up at 4.30 on Wednesday 23 Dec, as we had to be in the Prayer Hall for 5am !
After meditation we went with a monk and the Abbott to collect food (alms giving by the people of the village). I did ask the Abbott to wait until I'd read my dawn prayers before we ventured the streets of Chai Nat, which he was happy to do !
It was a awesome experience, to see so many people donating food to the monks on a daily basis ! Basically what happens is; the monks carry a stainless steel pot (with lid) and the people donating the food, spoon the rice from their container into the monks pot. Any other food is placed on to a tray, which the monk puts forward to the person donating. The food offered varies from Tum Yum soup, chicken stir fry, banana fritters, fruit, etc, and each item is packed in a small sandwich type bag and placed on the tray. The monk then turns to their helpers (Shirley-Ann and me on this occasion), who take the food from the tray and place it into the cart that is being pushed around with them. During the course of the walk, the monks, empty the rice from the stainless steel pot into a bigger pot, which is also on the cart.
After returning to the temple, the food is sorted by the nuns and the Abbott and Monks are first to help themselves to the food. After them, the nuns and helpers select what they require. Finally any remaining food (which there was a lot of) is offered to the poor, who just turn up at the monastery at a particular time each day and take what they need - so nothing is wasted !
At 10am, the Abbott taught us the technique for "Walking mediation". This is where one foot is placed in front of the other in a very very slow pace and one has to concentrate on each little move ! If anyone is interested in this, I'll show how its done when I get back !
We got back to Lemon House at 3pm, jumped in the shower and had another early night !!!!!
Thursday 24 Dec - we went to Chawak Zoo and Samchuck market, in Supanburi province. We saw tigers, tiger cubs and orangutans, I touched the foot of a tiger cub (that's the closest I've every been to a tiger, gosh I'm getting brave - maybe I'll get a kitten when I return !).
Today - Sunday 27 Dec, we've got together with some other travellers from Twin House and have come into Singburi town. Most of them are at the swimming pool, but I wanted to update my blog. Its very hot here, so I've got a cool pepsi keeping me company !
Tomorrow - Monday 28th Dec, Shirley-Ann, Oliver and I will be off trekking, so happy new year to everyone and my next blog will be in 2010 !
Love, Dee xxx
- comments