back from the forest
The last few days have been awesome.
I don't quite remember where I stopped off in my recountings.. but I have a lot to catch up on. The day after we got to Hua Hin we went to Webster University where we had two seminars from Ted Mayer, a professor of Buddhist Studies here in Thailand and one of our guides for the trip (the other is Schroeder). We had some adventures in town that night locating an indian restaurant to serve up vegetarian eats for me and meredith (the previous night we had eaten vegetable fried rice at a seafood restaurant... I think there were maybe two veetables in the whole dish..) and then we came home to Wee I P and crashed.
We woke up early Friday morning for a full day of driving to Chaiyapoum, a province right in the center of Thailand where Phra Paisal, an engaged buddhist monk, lives in a small forest temple. By the time we drove the 15km down the dirt road to the temple, it was getting dark, and we opened the windows of the van, sticking out heads, hands, and cameras to take in the evening scenes of thai villagers preparing food and watching us pass. It was a wonderful welcome, despite being a bit dark and misty... I was so glad to see countryside!
I am running out of time on the computer so I'll give the short version of our stay: I slept on a straw mat on the floor of the sala, the place where the monks do chanting and meditation. We woke up at 5 am to the sound of gongs and dogs barking, did chanting, meditation, and went on an alms round thru the town where villagers give all the food that the monks will eat that day. We spent all day with Phra Paisal, asking questions and then following him on a hike up the mountain the temple is on to plant trees as a part of the temple;s forest conservation efforts. The food was prepared by the mae chi, the ordained woman (not a monk) who lives at the temple. It was all vegetarian, which was fantastic because it has been a little hard to find veggie food everywhere here.
Basically, the trip to Phra Paisal's temple was awesome... it was such a wonderful escape from everything, such a place of focus and contemplation, so beautiful... I am begining to think more about what I want to do with my free time here in thailand after the study tour is over and before mom arrives, and now I know that I want to be in the countryside, in vallages, away from Bankok.
that's all the time I have for now. maybe more tommorow? I feel like I am just scratching the surface, both in my explanations and in my discovery of this place. I want to tell you more about what Phra Paisal and Sulak said to us. I want to tell you about conclusions. Tomorrow, I hope.
I don't quite remember where I stopped off in my recountings.. but I have a lot to catch up on. The day after we got to Hua Hin we went to Webster University where we had two seminars from Ted Mayer, a professor of Buddhist Studies here in Thailand and one of our guides for the trip (the other is Schroeder). We had some adventures in town that night locating an indian restaurant to serve up vegetarian eats for me and meredith (the previous night we had eaten vegetable fried rice at a seafood restaurant... I think there were maybe two veetables in the whole dish..) and then we came home to Wee I P and crashed.
We woke up early Friday morning for a full day of driving to Chaiyapoum, a province right in the center of Thailand where Phra Paisal, an engaged buddhist monk, lives in a small forest temple. By the time we drove the 15km down the dirt road to the temple, it was getting dark, and we opened the windows of the van, sticking out heads, hands, and cameras to take in the evening scenes of thai villagers preparing food and watching us pass. It was a wonderful welcome, despite being a bit dark and misty... I was so glad to see countryside!
I am running out of time on the computer so I'll give the short version of our stay: I slept on a straw mat on the floor of the sala, the place where the monks do chanting and meditation. We woke up at 5 am to the sound of gongs and dogs barking, did chanting, meditation, and went on an alms round thru the town where villagers give all the food that the monks will eat that day. We spent all day with Phra Paisal, asking questions and then following him on a hike up the mountain the temple is on to plant trees as a part of the temple;s forest conservation efforts. The food was prepared by the mae chi, the ordained woman (not a monk) who lives at the temple. It was all vegetarian, which was fantastic because it has been a little hard to find veggie food everywhere here.
Basically, the trip to Phra Paisal's temple was awesome... it was such a wonderful escape from everything, such a place of focus and contemplation, so beautiful... I am begining to think more about what I want to do with my free time here in thailand after the study tour is over and before mom arrives, and now I know that I want to be in the countryside, in vallages, away from Bankok.
that's all the time I have for now. maybe more tommorow? I feel like I am just scratching the surface, both in my explanations and in my discovery of this place. I want to tell you more about what Phra Paisal and Sulak said to us. I want to tell you about conclusions. Tomorrow, I hope.
posted by Liz @ 8:04 AM
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