A morning on the road

I've fallen a bit behind with my updates, so here is something from about three weeks ago..
It seemed like just another morning in Ban Sawangjai.. 5:30, I was waiting for the minivan to pick me up to go into town for pinat baat (see previous post) with the monks. The sun was just coming up when the van came along, the door swung open and rock music blasted out the car, I got in and the car sped away.
A few minutes later we were driving along some dirtroad, slaloming around the holes in the road, going about 100 km/h, Black Magic Woman by Santana coming from the stereo, driving into the sunrise, the sky all orange and purple when Born To Be Wild came along on the cd... That's when it hit me, how crazy and unimaginably strange life really is!
Here I was in Thailand, racing on a dirtroad, with Born To Be Wild blasting out the stereo, in a car full of monks.. while ahead of me the sun was coming up over the mountains, covered in rainforest and shrouded by mist...

There's just no describing the feeling of that morning, I felt like my head was about to explode from the strangeness of the situation..In short, the most incredible, wonderful morning I've ever experienced.

Sangklaburi haiku

Rainy season now
but through this thick veil of rain
such beauty is seen.

Rain, rain and more rain...

Monday the 16th I arrived in Sangklaburi, where I will be volunteering for one month before I move on to Rayong, where I will be volunteering for another five months..
And what are my first impressions? Rain, rain, mud, some more rain, bugs in all sizes, from tiny stinging flies, to spiders the size of a saucer and of course rain.. It has been raining here continuously for three months already, minimum of 20 hours a day, my clothes won't dry, my bed is always moist.. But I'm getting used to it already. :)
And the kids? 18 boys, ages 7 to 17.. I don't have any kids myself and have never had much to do with kids, so it was quite a shock at first, the constant noise, the yelling, the running around.. After two days the rain and the kids combined had me questioning what the hell I was doing here!?!

But, it's been a week now and I'm getting used to the kids, they are getting comfortable around me, so I think it will be ok after all.
Also it's been very much going back to basics, a squat toilet, shower outside with cold water, no telephone, no cellular network, no internet, no tv, no bed but a mat on the floor.. It's quite nice actually. :)

Take a look at the pictures of my hut



my first floor bedroom



the bathroom. ;)

First week in Ban Sawangjai

It all started very smoothly 2 weeks ago last Friday, taxiride of an hour to Bangkok's North bus terminal, 5 minutes searching for the ticketbooth for Pakchong, which is complicated when almost everything is written using Thai letters. ;)
Luckily the waiting busses were all numbered, so finding the bus was relatively easy.. A 3 hour busride to Pakchong.. That's where I expected the most difficulty in finding my way, I had to get a saengtaew (a pickup truck used as bus) to the temple, but as I was walking around looking for my saengtaew I suddenly spotted Sister Brigitte walking around doing some shopping! It turned out they had just driven into town for some shopping, so I could just get into the minivan and get a ride, perfect! :)

Once there I got my own private room complete with hot shower and toilet, luxery. ;) Well private, I had to share with all the other creatures living there and visiting, mosquitoes, ants, lizards, spiders and anything else which would get in through the cracks in the walls and door.. :)

The first week I was almost alone there, a few monks and nuns, some Thai workers and Ans, a Belgian guy, who had already been there for a month, meditating. I would just try to meditate all day, with breaks for some rest or tea or coffee, quite difficult to find the discipline to go sit and meditate. Around 9:30 there would be a meal up on the mountain where the monks live.
Monks have only 1 meal a day and as a meditator there you also have to follow the rule of not eating anything after 12 noon. That seems difficult to do, but actually you learn to eat as much as you can during your one meal and the food is really very good, so after a day or 2 you get used to it.
On the second day there, before the meal, the abbot of the temple, the head teacher, Phra Acharn Tippakorn came to me and asked me if I would like to join him and the monks the next morning to go on 'pinat baht', that is when the monks go into town early in the morning and make a round across the market and the people have the opportunity to give food to the monks, so it is quite an honour to be able to be there and of course I said yes.
The next morning 5:30 I was picked up by the minivan and we drove into town, there we went barefoot walking across the market, Ans and me both carrying a big basket for the donations, the people give so much that the monks couldn't possibly carry it themselves, in fact usually we took in about 8 baskets full! Of course everybody at the centre, about 30 people, eat from it, so nothing gets wasted. :)
People who want to donate wait on their knees with their donations and when we get there they give it to the monks and then we would smoothly take it from the monks and put it in our baskets. A beautiful thing to see, how the monks get supported by the Thai people.. I think back home you would starve if you tried to survive on gifts. :)

So every morning I would walk with the monks, then do some meditation, then walk up the mountain for the meal and afterwards roll down the mountain again and then meditate for the rest of the day and go to sleep around 20:30.. The first hour after the meal would be very difficult, after such an enormous meal you get very tired, but the rest of the day would be quite ok.
Of course with all the big changes going on in my life at the moment it's always very busy in my head and very hard to get the mind quiet enough for meditating. But in all I had a wonderful time, it was mentally exhausting, but worth the effort.

In fact just being there in that place is very very good and then there is the teacher Acharn Tippakorn, he is probably the most wonderful person I have ever met, he has an enormous presence and a very peaceful atmosphere about him, when he walks into a room everybody looks up, when he speaks everybody pays attention. So to be so close to him for some time is a very good influence...


Ok, enough for now.. more later. :)

Back in the 'real' world

After 2 weeks of peace and quiet I'm back in the crazy busy world of Bangkok, only a 4 hour busride to take me to the heat and noise of Bangkok from a beautiful, silent mountainretreat, surrounded by monks and people meditating.
I'm not quite ready to write about it tonight, but let me just tell you it was a wonderful time with some really amazing experiences and let me share with you an image from my time there... ;)