Living in the Moment in Thailand

Thailand is backpacker central. I was initially hesitant to include this country on my itinerary because I don't really like tourists or the tourist scene, let alone the whole backpacker-on-spring-break mentality. But make no mistakes about it, the word is out: Thailand is a great travel destination. It was quite a shock arriving in Bangkok to see more white people in five minutes than I had seen the whole time I was in the Philippines. But just like in Alaska, it doesn't take too much effort to step out of the artificially constructed tourist bubble.

I only spent one day in Bangkok, just enough time to visit the Royal Palace and take a Thai cooking class. After that I headed to Chiang Mai, the second most visited city in Thailand which is an overnight train ride away. Given the amount of tourists, it's pretty easy to get by without knowing Thai, but I find it frustrating that I can't strike up a conversation with locals the way I could when I was in South America. I also find myself at the mercy of others.

When trying to find the right truck to get to the organic farm (where I spent the last week) I relied on a note written in Thai by a worker at my hostel. After ten minutes of showing the note and being pointed to different trucks, I finally found the right one. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding and the driver tried to drop me off at the wrong place. When he finally figured out where I wanted to go he explained (through hand gestures) that I needed to be on a different truck and proceeded to drop me off on the side of the road to wait. I sat on my backpack for an hour reading, praying the right truck would come along, and sure enough it did.

Thus I ended up at Second Home, an organic farm and retreat run by a monk named Chinnaworn. I called ahead of time to say I was coming, but I didn't realize that the retreat is technically closed at the moment while the monk focuses on meditating. In the past, Second Home was bustling with visitors learning to cook, farm, speak Thai, meditate, etc. But now there were only about five of us, all friends of people who had been there before. Luckily, there was still a lot to do. Although Chinnaworn spent the day alone meditating, the rest of us cooked and picked vegetables and did various tasks that needed attention.

The first day I was there we were recruited by Chinnaworn's brother to help cut rice. I will never again take rice for granted. We cut the stalks with sickles at a downward angle and piled them in little bunches, working our way through the fields. All of the Thai workers thought our contribution pretty hilarious and constantly gave us tips on how to be more efficient. Even so, I still managed to hit myself in the arm, bleeding on the rice stalks and amusing the Thais even more. But everyone was very good-natured and I was proud to have helped. Thankfully it was overcast that day; I cannot imagine working in the heat. As it was I left covered in sweat and grime.

For the week while I was at Second Home I shelled peanuts, cut bamboo, picked vegetables, weeded, hoed, cooked, read and meditated. Everything we ate was organic and either came from the farm itself or from Chinnaworn's mother who lived across the field. It was some of the most delicious food I've ever eaten and it delighted me that our grocery shopping consisted of wondering through the fields picking leaves and fruit or digging up potatoes. We even sucked the nectar out of flowers.

Second Home was extremely relaxing and left me feeling healthy and content. While at Second Home I read a lot, including some very inspiring books on meditation, life & death, selflessness and impermanence. We meditated every day for a half an hour, a task I find extremely challenging but very fulfilling. In fact, I have been so inspired by Second Home and some of the Buddhist philosophies that I've been getting into that I am getting ready to attend a ten day silent meditation retreat on the first of December at Suan Mokkh.

I get on a train this evening to make the journey South to Surat Thani from which I will go to the retreat. At the moment I am couchsurfing with a Zen Buddhist and professor of the Philosophy of Religion at Chiang Mai University. He was previously a monk for ten years and also a trauma doctor. He and his family have been wonderful and we have had many thought provoking conversations. I feel that I have learned so much in the past few weeks and I'm thinking about life in ways I never have before. Mainly I am learning to live in the moment and let go of attachments, which is much harder than you might think.

I expect I will have much more to say on such matters after this retreat, an experience which I find very intimidating. Lauren, not talking for ten days? But I expect it will be a good challenge and life experience. My thoughts will invariably turn to home while I'm there, as they have this whole trip, but I can safely say that I will return to Juneau energized and enlightened by all of my experiences here. This trip has again proved to be less of a sampling of all the places I could visit, but instead a study of locations that really move me.