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On the plane to Bangkok, I read about free meditation courses offered in many temples in Bangkok, and one place in particular - Wat Mahatat was recommended. I decided to check it out since it was relatively close to my hotel. When I got there, i was one hour late for the group session, so they assigned a monk meditation teacher to me for 1 hour session of the basic Vipassana meditation. The mediation was very interesting - both sitting and walking practice. I learned that people come there from all over the world for weeks sometimes, but minimum one week of stay. After the meditation they asked me if I want to participate in the prayer, and I agreed of course. I got the lotus flower and a candle with some incense, and started walking around the temple with the others. The monks were chanting while walking around the temple. It was really beautiful. When I finished walking around four times, I lit the candle and placed it next to the offering. As I was leaving, two Thai girls offered me to walk with them around the temple, and gave me the offering to carry and I couldn't refuse. We walked together and they smiled at me approving of the way I was holding my offering, while trying not to burn myself with the dripping candle. Afterwards, they invited me to stay with them for dinner, and I learned that one of them is studying Buddhism and works as a volunteer there. I met a couple of the monk teachers as well as other volunteers at the center. We all went out for dinner around the corner. It was street food and very tasty. They treated me to dinner, I was really touched. The girl who befriended me invited me to visit her school the next day, but I made plans, so I couldn't make it. After dinner, we went to the night market together. There were no tourists there at all. You could find anything you want there, from used phones to Thai sweets. We walked around and my new friend treated me some candy. I felt really lucky to have such a fantastic and authentic day in Bangkok.
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