adventure awaits: Meditation, mountains and elephants

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.