Abroad Trip Day 11

Last night was pretty fun. We all piled in a seelaw, and stopped to get pad thai and roti and drinks on the way to Maria's. Then we walked about 15 minutes down the road to Maria's house. We were supposed to meet Surat at Maria's street, but we walked so fast that we passed her before she came to meet us. We got to the end of the street, and were very confused. While lost Farang may be a target, 19 lost Farang are not. We were just a spectacle for the kids who live in the houses around there. It was a pretty fun night, and we were home by 10 for a short nights sleep.

We got up at 5:15 to go give alms to the monks who walk by the morning market on their morning alms run at 6am. I paid 30 baht ($1) for a ready-to-eat meal and a flower.

“Nimon-ka” I said to the monk, wai-ing.

He stopped, and open the alms bowl monks carry with them. I put the food in there, careful not to touch the bowl, put the flower on top. Then I wai-ed really low to the ground in a crouch as he blessed me, and went on his way with his food. All monks are not allowed to eat after noon, and many only eat one meal a day which they cannot ask for, nor can they purchase (they have no money). If I were Buddhist, I would have earned some merit for my family, so my parents would have better karma, and improve their next life. I think that's how it works, anyway. Not so sure. The Sanskrit translated to Thai translated to not-so-great English with a thick accent loses some meaning along the way.

After feeding the monks, we went back to the hotel, and most people went to bed. I stayed up and did homework, though. I was a little behind on reading and writing, nor was I that tired. When breakfast opened at 7, I had quite a bit of coffee, then went back to work until it was time to leave.

We went to ISDSI, got a lecture on:

(1) Why we should dress modestly while with ISDSI (and I mean really modestly. Minimum cap sleeves with a crew neck, preferably pants but as long as our knees don't show, we could wear a skirt or capris)

(2) Thai Buddhism (this was the main lecture)(also a very thick accent, but he was funny). I got chosen (mid-yawn) to answer the pop quiz question from the speaker, Saemwang (sounds like “someone”) about what causes suffering in the world, according to Buddhism. I answered correctly with “desire.” Craving and desire cause suffering because of greed and hate. I have adopted a few precepts over the years to my “meligion,” and most of the Eightfold path is on there. Google it. I'll blog about it some other time.

(3) What to expect at our temple stay tomorrow night. No makeup, no perfume, no deodorant. Sounds like my kind of place! I am not sure what to expect actually, because they just told us stuff to bring and what not to do, so I still have no idea what we're going to do. Sabai Sabai! (It means “It's good, it's good!).

After, we ate delicious lunch with curried chicken, cooked cauliflower and cherry tomatoes, and rice with peanut sauce. Yum! We piled into the seelaws, and went to a temple for Monk Chat.

Monk Chat is a time where people can come and talk to monks and ask them questions. None of the 4 monks I spoke with were Thai, though. They were Burmese or Cambodian. There are different rules for Thai monks. Thai monks must shave their heads more closely and their eyebrows. Thai monks are not allowed to touch women, even indirectly. Putting food in the alms bowl is ok, as long as women don't touch the alms bowl. Burmese monks can touch women directly, as long as their heart is pure. We asked a lot of questions for well over an hour, about technology (monks can only use technology to help communicate with lay people, so cell phones and internet), education (all the monks we talked to planned to be monks for life, but “future cannot see,” and they were all getting bachelors degrees in Buddhist studies), communication (all of the non-Thai monks speak English as their primary language at the wat, because they can speak better English than Thai), and differences between Thai and other nearby culture. The monks say the Buddhism is the same as their countries, but that the culture changes how it works, like the touching women rule, for instance. That is only really in Thailand, not in Burma or Sri Lanka.

We also bought outfits for our trip to the meditation center. We must wear all white, loose appropriate clothing, so the best place to get it is at temples. We got a white t-shirt and a pair of white fishermen pants. Should be a comfortable couple of days at the center. Like I said, not sure what to expect, but you'll find out when I post next!

After I spent the afternoon reading, some of us went to find a place to do laundry. I had the hotel do some vitals, but it's expensive, like 50baht for a pair of pants, and 20baht per shirt. So I took the rest of my laundry to find a laundromat. The closest thing we found was Laundry House, where you put 20baht into the machine, put soap in, and either wait or leave. If you leave, the attendant will take your clothes and hang them to dry. You pick them up the next evening and they're dried and ironed. However, I just stuffed them in a plastic bag, and brought them back to the hotel to hang dry. Who needs neatly pressed clothing?

On our way home, we decided to stop and eat. We decided to try the Italian place Charlie said would be good. Turns out it's super fancy and expensive. Fancy enough where they unfold your napkin and put it on your lap for you. And here we are, backpacks and bags of wet clothes in hand. We learned a new phrase during the ISDSI lecture: farang kinoi. Birdshit foreigners. That's what we felt like. But, we ate there anyway, because we couldn't leave. Luckily, it was happy hour, so the wine was BOGO! I got the cheapest item on the menu: broccoli and potato soup, 120baht. Total, I paid 270baht, to include tip. $9 at a fancy restaurant isn't bad, but the total came to almost 1700 for 4 people, which is around $55. “It could be worse,” I said, remembering how I sometimes ate $40 one-person dinners in Italy and Slovenia nightly last interim trip. Very awkward time, overall, but very funny. We felt very out of place. It also felt weird because it was for tourists only. There was no Thai on the menu, only English and Italian. Strange!