It's been awhile since I've posted anything, and this is my effort to catch up. The last few months have been full of travels and figuring out what comes next in my life, so here's some of that in a nutshell.
October in Thailand
means a school break, and for PCV’s that often means vacation time. I spent a couple weeks in northern Thailand for a
meditation retreat, a day with an elephant, and a few days of hiking, caving,
and relaxing in the mountains.
Thailand
has no shortage of opportunities for the exploration of meditation practice and
I, despite having no real experience with meditation, thought I’d take
advantage of one of them. Chiang Mai,
the northern city where I started my trip, is surrounded by mountainous
national parks, one of them located just a few kilometers outside of the
tourist-filled city center. On top of
the closest mountain is a temple that receives a surprising number of visitors
every day, both Thai and foreign.
|
The long staircase leading to the temple at the top |
This temple is also home to a meditation center which provides opportunities for the exploration of meditation for a
period of anywhere from 4 to 30 days.
They provide basic lodging and food for people coming to practice
meditation, with the fees being donation-based – you can provide a donation of
an amount of your choosing at the end of your time there. I chose the 4 day option, thinking that was a
fair amount of time for an introduction to meditation and not so long that I
wouldn’t be able to handle it. Each day
consisted of waking up for a Dhamma talk (teachings of the Buddha from a local
monk) at 5:30, breakfast at 7, meditation from 8-11:30 until lunch, afternoon
meditation from 12:30 until 6 with a brief individual check-in with the
resident monk/teacher in the afternoon, evening chanting at 6pm followed by
individual meditation until bedtime. The
experience was interesting and challenging.
I learned the basics of sitting and walking meditation and received some
interesting advice and insights from the monk leading the daily teachings.
After my brief introduction to meditation I was able to do
something I've been waiting to do ever since I arrived in Thailand; spend time with
elephants. I spent a day at Patara
Elephant Farm, which provides visitors with the opportunity to learn about and
take care of an elephant for a day. They have an amazing program of rescue, recovery and recuperation for elephants and people visiting their farm help take care of all the elephants. I
learned everything from how to approach them, how to tell if they’re in a good
mood, how they sweat, how to feed them, and more about their poop than I’d ever
wanted to know. I spent the day with
Boonpak, a big male elephant that was fantastic. I fed him, brushed him, bathed him, and then went
on a trek through the jungle on his head.
It was a fantastic day and one of the coolest things I’ve done.
|
Feeding time |
|
Checking for sweat on their toes |
|
Brushing |
|
Bathing |
|
Scrubbing tusks |
The last of my northern travels took me to Mae Hong Son, a
beautifully mountainous province that runs along the western border of the
north of Thailand. I spent a few days hiking, kayaking, and
being a spectator to a crazy 100km trail run that by chance was happening one
of the days I was there in the surrounding area.
|
Mountains in Mae Hong Son |
|
Mountain top sunrise on a sea of fog |
|
Kayaking through a giant cave |
|
The start/finish of the Ultramarathon happening while I was here |