When I left you last I had just returned from my weekend trip to the wondrous Erawan National Park (I included pictures from the trip in this entry). Since then a few interesting developments have happened; however, perhaps none more unique/unforgettable than the overnight trip to the Buddhist temple. We (the group) arrived at the temple on Tuesday evening after eating dinner at the neighboring 7-11, which was lovely, and followed the monks in chanting and meditation for three hours or so. Then, the guys and girls were separated for the sleeping portion of the trip; the guys stayed on the floor of the temple while the girls unwound in some luxurious suite fixed with beds and air conditioning (at least we think).
Five hours later (at about 4:30am), we were awoken to one of the monks ringing a bell as he circled around our lifeless bodies, only stopping once we were on our feet. After meeting up with the girls in the temple, we did about an hour of chanting and meditation before walking with the monks through the town to gather food that the locals would donate to them (a pretty eye opening experience.. pun very much intended). About two hours later, we all made our way back to the temple where the monks got to have their breakfast and the rest of us got two hours of downtime (sleep). We then had lunch with the monks (they eat a lot early in the day because they're not allowed to have solid food after 12:00pm), said a few parting words and were on our way back to the eco-house. All in all an incredible experience but due to the lack of sleep and sore nature of my body (both from sleeping on the floor and strangely uncomfortable meditation positions), I'm not sure if its one that I'm eager to repeat.
Today we spent the majority of the day volunteering at an orphanage in a nearby town. At first glance, it appeared to be quite similar to the school we volunteered at last week (classrooms for different age groups, playgrounds, the works). That is however until we saw the sleeping quarters for the kids (roughly 180 in total) which were basically large rooms with rows upon rows of bunk beds. Despite their seemingly short straw, the kids were awesome/energetic and appeared to enjoy our company for the day.
Tomorrow I leave for Bangkok with some of the people from the group. From the stories I've heard, it should be a relaxing getaway similar to that of a hill top resort (sarcasm). But it should be exciting and hopefully I'll have some wild stories for the upcoming entry.
Tune in next time.
H
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