A Red Shirt Party Again:
While being silent and meditating for ten days, it also means you get no news about the world, including news about the country you are in. So, I came out of the retreat and got on my train headed for Bangkok right as I heard the not so lovely news that yesterday 20 had been killed and 800 wounded in a protest. Which also happened to be next to right where I was going to be staying. But, it is Songkran (best holiday in the world Iwould have to say- a country wide water and powder fight) right now and today and yesterday have been a Red Shirt party again by everything I can see. Yesterday, we could not step out of our hotel without getting drenched. We walked though a grouping of Red Shirts and by the end we were caked in powder and dripping. Needless to say, the mall security guard wouldn't let us in after this. I've got some pictures, but the computer I'm at is locked in a box, so I'll put them all up when I get home!
Survival of the Fittest:
Well, I just so happened to survive ten days of boot camp for the mind! And even more miraculously, I loved it. The straight up facts and schedule make it sound like living hell, and it kinda was the first three days but then all started going well. So, the facts... You wake up at 4 am to the monastery bell, then off to meditation, yoga and more meditation before breakfast. Then the day continues with 6 hours more of meditating, some dhamma talks, and a little chanting. There is a second meal, but no third, so in the evening you can hop in the hot spring and then off to meditate some more and take a group walk around a lake before bedtime... where you get to go rest on a concrete bed and a wood pillow!
But, I found it magical in many ways and unlike everyone else, I didn't experience suffering after the first few days. Yoga was always done by the sun rising and the night walk was around a candle lit lake under a perfect starry sky... Or it was done around the lake until a girl got bit on the foot by a scorpion which meant it could never again be done without some girl letting out a false alarm shriek or scream ruining the walking meditation atmosphere a bit. The hot spring had coconut trees surrounding it and since you bathe in sarongs and you can trap air bubbles in them creating a balloon around you for a nice rustic floatation device. Also, I know Australia has record numbers of spiders, scorpions, snakes and such but I would have to say, when everyone is meditating silently in a forest in Southern Thailand you can see a shit ton too. One day I accidentally sat under a tree that had a big bright green snake curled up in it and because of the lakes there were crocodile/kimono dragon like things that wandered around the retreat zone frequently. And, everyday you would have no problem spotting a few giant (legs the size of my fingers) spiders.
As for the meditation....The walking meditation I never really got down. It was hard not to look around and giggle at others in this time since we all just looked like broken robots. One guy going back and forth another in circles. And, I can't exactly clear my mind entirely quite yet, but I can do a damn good job calming it!
In other news, I have been grinning day and night since I got out and found out I got into Pitzer!
Songkran aftermath... making milky puddles in our room.
Pretty much anyone who can hold a water gun or a bucket of powder gets out on the street to celebrate! Little babies to old grannies were out in full force.
And... families of four on motorbikes all equipped with water guns. Driver included.
Good luck powder/paste
Sah Wah Dee Kah Ronald McDonald!
We were wished A LOT of good luck. Including in ear creases, hair, and eye balls.
The Red Shirts 'protesting'... but really just doing it big for and celebrating for Songkran!
A meditation hall... where I spent so many hours of my life
Laura and I at a construction site on the side of the highway... because sometimes when you get off trains at 3 am that is the best thing you can find...
Train in the middle of the night
Sometimes you see them dumping sewage straight into the river and sometimes you see people swimming and fishing in it. Yikes!
