Chatting with Monks

Sometimes, I’ll come across something in our guidebook or on the internet that sounds like a cool idea. I’ll think to myself, hmmm, that sounds like a cool idea. But then I’ll never do anything to execute the idea because it either requires more effort than wandering around or involves too many unknowns. Every once in a while I’ll get in the mood to make something happen. Which is how I ended up sitting around, chatting with a bunch of monks about Buddhism and life and such.

It really involved very little effort, but the description in Lonely Planet was slightly on the vague side. It only mentioned that certain temples held monk chats to allow foreigners to find out more about Buddhism and to allow the monks to practice their English. Because I am rather on the uptight side and not adventurous by any means (traveling the world notwithstanding), this left a lot of unanswered questions in my mind. Do I have to schedule an appointment? Or do you just show up? If you’re just supposed to show up, what do I do when I get there? Do I just find any monk and say, monk, do you want to chat?

Yeah. I way overanalyze things, I know. I would be a bad Buddhist.

Turns out you do just sort of show up. The temple I visited was only a few streets away from our guesthouse, and they have a designated area for the monk chatting. Monks who are feeling chatty sit over there and strike up conversations. My first monk was a rather shy fellow, leading to lots of awkward silences. From him, I learned the basics of monkdom. All Thai men must serve a period of monkhood. Most do it around age 21, but some voluntarily because novices at a younger age. The men don’t have to serve for long periods, but many decide to stay monks for several years. Monks must leave their families behind in the villages and come to live in either a forest temple or city temple. They wear varying shades of orange, yellow, red or brown depending on what temple they are from. Monks get up early to chant in the temples, and only eat the alms donated by others.

My second monk, on the other hand, was born to chat. Good thing he didn’t take a vow of silence. From him, I learned that monks must shave all body hair, including their eyebrows. Funny how I never noticed before he mentioned it, especially since the eyebrow shaving scenes in the Wall and on the Sopranos by Anthony Jr. really freaked me out. He told me about how monks are not supposed to play sports or exercise, but he sneaks a few push-ups everyday to stay fit. He gets up at 4:00 every morning, but doesn’t usually go to bed until midnight. He doesn’t see a need for any more sleep.

Either sensing my slightly aimless state in life or just the type of monk to not let the chat end without imparting a few words of wisdom, the second monk decided to talk Buddhism with me. If you have a problem, said the monk, solve it. And there’s no sense worrying about the past, because it already happened. Nor should you worry about the future, because it isn’t here yet. Focus on the present, the monk said, for it is the only thing you can control.

Wise words.

Good afternoon, Vietnam.

It’s a New Country Day and we arrived in Vietnam a few hours ago.  We hear Vietnam is pretty wired, which is good because I haven’t had the chance to post much due to a combination of being on the move and not having the best internet.  But I won’t be on Facebook for the next three weeks or so, courtesy of the Vietnamese government.  They better not block the Super Bowl!

Olifants, Revisited: A Day at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai

Elephants are awesome. They are huge, but don’t flaunt it; they are vegetarian after all. They’ve got the whole tusk and trunk thing going on that other animals don’t have. They have (relatively) smaller babies who look like little mini-me versions of their parents. And they stick together. We enjoyed watching elephants so much during our safari in Kruger National Park, we wanted some more elephant action while we were in Thailand. We came to the right place – elephants have held a special place in Thai culture for centuries.

Visits to elephant parks in Chiang Mai are big business; it is practically mandatory for vistors to hang out with elephants in some way, shape, or form. But not all elephant parks are created equal. Some exist solely for the tourist’s entertainment and the owners’ pocketbooks. In those types of places, elephants dance, give rides, and even paint pictures. Others exist solely for the elephants, and the tourists’ entertainment is a secondary byproduct or a means to support the elephants. Elephant Nature Park seems to be one of the latter places.

I first learned about the Elephant Nature Park from Jessica and Tim over at Hedgehogs Without Borders. Their one day at the park turned into three which turned into seven whole weeks! They even returned to Thailand from the United States to adopt their dog Belly and bring him home from the jungle heat to the snow of New England. (Sadly, Belly passed away earlier this year). Jessica and Tim’s enthusiasm for the park and its mission was contagious, and when I read about Bessie and Kyle’s experience over at On Our Own Path, I was totally sold and signed us up for a day at the park.

We spent the day hanging around the elephants and learning their stories. The parks serves as a sanctuary and rescue center for elephants, and many of them were abused before they came to the park. Although I had the best of intentions to remember all of the elephants’ names and their stories, as usual, I failed miserably. Luckily, I had a cheat sheet. We met and learned about Jokia. Before she came to live at the Elephant Nature Park, the logging company who owned her forced her to work during her entire pregnancy. While she was at the top of a hill, pulling heavy logs, she delivered her baby and the baby rolled down the hill away from her. Her mahout wouldn’t allow her to go to the baby. Jokia, depressed over the loss of her baby, protested by refusing to work over the next several weeks. In return, her mahout slung rocks in her eyes with a slingshot, rendering her completely blind. We met and learned about Hope, an orphaned elephant so named after the founder of the park gained Hope’s trust and taught him to become a gentler elephant through non-aggressive methods. We met and learned about Lilly, an elephant who was forced to work under the influence of methamphetamines, so she could have the stamina to work all day on trekking expeditions and all night pulling logs. We learned about elephants that are forced to put on a happy show for tourists but beaten behind the scenes. We learned about elephants who are forced to roam Thailand’s city streets so that tourists and others will buy bananas and feed them for money, while they rock back and forth from the stress of being out of their element.

During our day at the park, we fed the elephants (watermelon is their favorite but they also need their veggies). We got right in the river and bathed the elephants (and watched them dirty themselves promptly thereafter). We were reminded that elephants are still wild animals (when one of the babies ran away from her protective mother who was determined to not let her own of her sight).  I even got kissed by an elephant (which turns out to be a rather wet and smelly experience). And, as an educational bonus, we learned by firsthand experience exactly how big an elephant schlong is (really big, in fact. Really, really big).

Each elephant has his or her own personality, and spending a day up close and personal with these fantastic animals was definitely a highlight of our Thai travels.

Elephants eat. A lot.

Applying natural sunscreen.

We knew something was amiss by the sound of our guide yelling, Baby running! Baby running!