Earthman Has Walked

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Perth, AustraliaSo after leaving Bangkok airport (where there was a lovely display of The Churning Of The Sea Of Milk which was on the side of Angkor Wat) I boarded the plane to Kuala Lumpur for my final flight back home to Perth, Australia. As much as I love Asia it was good to be going home, despite a certain amount of uncertainty of the work and accomodation front. Never mind all that though, so far everything has always worked out okay and these fays I am a man of very simple pleasures, some of the best experiences of my life have occurred at my poorest and I have often been at my most miserable when surrounded with all the trappings of the material existence. I posted last time about a Zen riddle about the guy hanging off the cliff facing certain death above and below, the whole story is a metaphor for human existance, the black and white mice symbolise night and day, time ticking away with certain doom waiting for us no matter what course of action we take. Some may find this too terrifying or horrible to contemplate but the whole point of the tale is that you have to enjoy each moment, to eat the strawberries whenever you can in order to really appreciate life for how beautiful it really is. To do this we must quieten our monkey minds, stop it from jumping around from thinking about the past and the future and to focus only on what is real, which is the moment at hand.So begins my long journey towards this end....Touched down is Perth at 5:30am on Saturday morning, the pilot of the plane looked like an idiot salesperson who used to work for me which was a bit unsettling and There were no blankets offered to passengers despite the freezing temperature inside the plane. I nearly missed the plane as I was sitting inside the new lounge section at the airport, so new that they hadnt installed speakers so you could hear the boarding announcements being made at the gate outside.Got a mate to pick me up from the Perth airport, kudos to him for making the trip so early in the morning. If you ever want to find out who your real friends are, try that on them.Made it to my mates wedding at 1pm after shaving of the beard, putting on the suit I got from Bangkok and doing my hair, a very nice ceremony where he arrived at the church in a Hummer, after which we went to the Matilda bay Brewery where the reception was held. A magnificent location right on the river, beautiful day and weather, I will post some photos when I can get a broadband connection instead of dial up which will take forever to load up.A lovely reception and got the chance to chat with my mate's neighbour with whom I shared travel stories before winding up at midnight when i headed into the nightclub district of Northbridge for another mate's birthday party.Not having my passport on me and my drivers license having long since expired, I was denied entry into the club where her party was being held for as I had no ID. Welcome Home!From here I jumped in a cab for the long drive to my mates house where I was staying, total fare: AU$70....Takeaway lessons here:Australia is very beaurocratic.Australia is bloody expensive after AsiaThe upside was that my mate had let me stay at his beautiful house while he and his wife went on their honeymoon, time to relax and take it easy for a bit before beginning the job hunt to replenish by rapidly deteriorating bank balance.Cheers Cobba!

Training The Monkey Mind- Conclusion

Suan Mokkh, Southern Thailand

While walking in the hills, a man is confronted by a fierce tiger. Try as he might to evade the beast, he soon finds himself chased off the side of a cliff. Grasping for dear life on a vine he caught hanging during his fall, he notices a bunch of ripe strawberries growing on the small rock ledge alongside of him. While the fierce rocks below threaten to rip him to pieces and drag his body to the murky depths, two mice, one black and one white, begin to chew away at the vine to which he holds for dear life as the tiger above waits restlessly for his meal to climb within reach.
What should he do?

-Zen riddle

So the final few days of the retreat were scheduled much as the middle, wake up early then meditate, yoga then meditate, breakfast then meditate, dharma talk then meditate, and so on and so on. The expectation was that the guests should know the basics by this stage and should just practice in order to develop their skills more fully, and this is just what everyone would do.

As the final days approached people got alot more relaxed, a few conversations could be heard around the bodhi tree during walking meditation time and three of the group were expelled for using the hot springs when they should have been doing walking meditation, they were actaully busted by the rest of the group when they filed past the springs during the group walking meditation. Unlucky, I actually thought it was a bit harsh to kick them out for a minor transgression such as this.

The retreat wrapped up on the morning of the 11th of November, after that everyone was free to talk again and that was what everyone did as if desperately trying to make up for the previous days of silence. I met a few Canadians, a mad Irish bloke and his wife and a whole heap of other people from all over the place including a Canadian oilman and an ex US marine. In the group there were a few retreat veterans, it seems that alot of people do these things as a regular occurance all around the world, especially in India.

It gave me a few ideas for my next adventure.

Earthmans Indian Walkabout- Enlightenment or Bust....?

Who knows, it's got a nice ring to it though doesn't it?

Walked over the highway to the main temple and for guided tour by the Indian monk, a special reward to guests who stuck it out over the whole duration where we were treated to a viewing of the lodgings of Buddhadasa Bikkhu whose interpretation of the buddhist suttas (teachings) made Suan Mikkh so famous (or infamous) through the buddhis community, many amazing things to see here including a wax sculpture of our man Buddhadasa himself (very lifelike) and the Museum of Spiritual Enlightenment which was full of buddhist art and stuff.

Said my goodbyes around twelve and hopped in a sangthiew on the highway to the Surat Thani airport, a bit of a mission to get there but got there in time for my flight to Bangkok at 2:30pm. A word on Thailand, when i got to the airport gates I was met by a uniformed official who enquired ino my destination. I told him I needed to get to the international terminal and he said '150baht' and motioned for me to jump on the back of a motorcycle that was parked by the office and took me to the front door of the terminal. I guess airport security has to make cash any way they can in Thailand. Went to clean myself up in the airport and caught a glimpse of the bearded, multi coloured writbanded, fishermans panted hippy looking being that I had become, I wish I had got a photo because it was a sight to behold, even for me.

After a strong coffee I boarded the flight to Bangkok airport and got in in the late afternoon but didn't check in to my guest house until evening due to the horrendous traffic on the road, it was all very weird going from silence to chaos in the matter of a few hours but was still very relaxed from my time in Suan Mokkh for a long time to come after that.

Oh, and the answer to the riddle?

Eat the strawberries.

Training the Monkey Mind- Part 2

Suan Mokkh, Southern Thailand
Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans
-John Lennon

It is awfully hard to just switch off your brain, and after about three days at the retreat the numbers were beginning to dwindle, the leavers were conspicuous by the unattended mats lying on the floor of the meditation hall. Being a silent retreat (no talking allowed for the duration), the participants became adept at finding other ways to communicate to their friends and partners, at one stage when returning to the dormitory after the evening session we were greeted with a message written in the sand in front of the entrance:

Back Is Killing Me
Mosquito Bites Itchy
So Hungry

I could definitely empathise with whoever was reaching out with this message.
The good news was that the mind was beginning to calm down now, the songs which were playing over and over in my head were fading away and I was beginning to experience some real calm and mindfulness when I sat down to meditate. It's amazing how, when you eliminate all the clutter going on in your head that you become so much more observant of the world around you. After the retreat was over, I had a chat for an hour with one of the other participants on the habits of ants in their natural environment and how the big ones worked together with the little ones in their daily chores. The modern human spends the majority of his time lost in thought, either about things which have passed, or things that are yet to come, never on the moment that is at hand. This is a shame because nature is pretty interesting when you stop to observe it, even the ants.
I had come over the border on the 28th of October which meant my visa would expire on the 12th of November, the day after the retreat finished. This only left me one day to get from the middle of nowhere to Kuala Lumpur, so I broke the rules and left the retreat to use the internet to make a flight booking in the nearby small village of Chaiya. This involved walking 2 kilometres down to the highway and waiting by the side of the road for a truck into town, when I got into town it was a pretty unpleasant experience after being in a peaceful, natural sanctuary after so long and I was very eager to get back to the retreat as soon as possible. Very few people in town spoke any English, the first place I came to to use to use their computer I was greeted with a flat no when I asked if I could use it. The second place the proprieters daughter was on youtube watching cartoons so she asked me to come back in a few days, it took a few minutes of pleading and explaining my situation before she reluctantly let use the terminal, much to the disgust of her daughter. There isn't much of a sense of urgency in these small towns, I suppose that there is never any cause to rush or deadlines needing to be met hence the very casual nature in which requests are met by the local villiagers. Nonetheless I needed to book a plane ticket so I left a nice tip for the owner to compensate her for her daughters hardship, she seemed to appreciate this and I felt bad about kicking her kid off her cartoons.
Booked a ticket from Surat Thani airpot to Bangkok, meaning I would be able to spend one last night in Khao San Road, the backpacker mecca and my favourite place in Bangkok. Had to take a motorbike back to the retreat and sneak back in, got ripped off by the rider but was very happy to be back in the peace and quiet just in time for Tan Ajahn's dharma talk for the evening.
After day 5 everyone who was there was there to stay, the Full Moon Party on Koh Phagnan was long finished so that temptation was removed and the basic disciplines of meditation was strong enough to enjoy the last stretch of mindfulness and quiet in the retreat.
Happy Days :)

Training The Monkey Mind- Part 1

Suan Mokkh, Southern Thailand

Okay... so I sort of wrapped it up before I left Bangkok in order to stick with the whole 80 days theme but since 1st November I have been pretty active on the travel front all the way up to my return to my adopted home of Perth, Australia. I will take the time now to log the previous couple of weeks because it has been an amazing experience, far off the beaten trail with activities you won't find in any Thomas Cook travel guide anytime soon.
Left Bangkok on the evening of the 30th October, destination Surat Thani, Southern Thailand. Surat Thani is famous mainly as being the middle point between Bangkok and the islands (Koh Samui, Koh Phagnan, Koh Tao), there's not much else to say about the town apart that it's a major transport hub for nautical and road and rail transport, there's also an airport about 50k's away which is remarkable given the remote location of the place. I made the mistake of confusing the town with another that was alot closer to BKK so with arrival and registration deadine of 12pm 31st Ocrtober I found myself fretting about whether I would get there in time, luckily there was a night bus running so I made it with a few hours to spare.
The hardest thing I have found with travelling is trying to organise movements without speaking the local language, the further you get away from capital cities the more difficult this becomes. Difficult in that it becomes impossible to negotiate a fair price for yourself, the touts will generally trying to force the most expensive mode of transport upon you whether you want it or not, I have rarely received the rates listed in any budget guidebooks but there's not much you can really do about it. The general consesus on the best way to handle these annoyances is to accept it with good humour, but as I mentioned in my last post I was not quite there yet, hence the reason for this journey...
Got into Surat Thani at 6am on the 31st, from here got a Sang Thiew (public transport- pick up truck with two benches in the back fo passengers) into Chaiya about an hour away.
Chaiya is one of the aforementioned places where no-one speaks any English, simply because they don't see many foreigners so there is simply no need to. I was lucky enough to find another traveller who was going the same way as me so we hopped another Sang Thiew to our destination, Suan Mokh Monastary in time to register for the 10 day retreat which begins on the 1st of every month.
The actual retreat is about 1.5 kms off the main road, in the opposite direction from the monestary. All in all there were about 100 foreigners who had arrived for the retreat, the site is a massive lush spanse dotted with open, pillared halls and compound style dorms, a dining hall at the entrance and natural hot springs and reflective ponds around the perimeter.

A real oasis of nature in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles from the hustle and bustle of the city as was to become more and more evident as time went on.

At 4pm on the 31st we were directed to the main meditation hall adjacent to the field for the abbot's opening talk.

The floor of the main hall is sand, with mats and a few cushions put down to soften your seating posture on the floor. This is where I would spend the majority of my time over the next 10 days, at times in agonising pain from back and leg ache whilst trying to focus on settling my restless mind, in complete silence apart from the sounds of nature and the constand bite of hungry mosquitos determined to suck all the blood from my body and leave me covered in itches to scratch as I slept on the concrete slab and half inch bamboo mat that was provided for our sleeping comfort, along with a wooden pillow on which to rest your head until the bell would ring at 4am to signify the start of another gruelling day....

Club Med this was not.
By day 3 about a third of the participants had left, bound for the party islands or Bangkok, anywhere away from this spartan place where the only distractions were one vegetarian meal each day and a 45 minute yoga session to ease the horrific pain endured when the body sits contorted on the floor for over six hours each day with only the breath to focus on while your mind does everything it can to distract you and all you can do in reply is direct your attention back to your breath inthe hope you will have the discipline to maintain a still mind and the overwhelming sense of calm and happiness which is earned from such rigorous discipline. You are basically training like a buddhist monk, in complete silence, not allowed to talk or even make eye contact with the other participants lest you break their focus and spoil their meditation. Like I said, it is not for everyone but I was keen to see if I had the willpower to see out the whole 10 days.
We shall soon see...

The End

Day 80: Bangkok, Thailand
Well every journey has an ending, I'm not actually sure if this is day 80 but it's the last time I will be in front of a PC for a few weeks so I though I would take the opportunity to wrap it up now before I leave. Am off to spend a few weeks with the monks in the forest monestary of Wat Suanmokkh, about a day train ride from Bangkok. I have put this off for a while now (was actually meant to go in October) but all the bright lights and constant stimulation from travelling around the region has made it very hard to comtemplate staying in one spot for too long.
However, it's an opportunity that can't be missed as the Thailand is the centre of Buddhism and the ancient discipline of transcendental meditation, if I don't go experience this before I go back it would be something I would regret forever.
Besides, I built up alot of anger and frustration over the last couple of years that needs to be managed in a healthy way, rather than using the traditional Western approach of alcohol and violence which doesn't really do anyone much good in the long run.
But enough about me.
What do you think of me?
Haha
Enough self indulgence, the bus leaves at 6pm tonight and I will return on the 10th, back to Bangkok and KL before flying to Oz for the summer, a bit more relaxed and motivated for the next phase of life in which all my diabolical plans will be brought to fruition (insert diabolical laugh HERE).
Peace.

Vientiane, France

Day 78: Vientiane, Laos
It's important to remember that the region is still littered with UXO, or unexploded ordinance. Much of these can be traced back to the civil wars of the 1960s and 70s although an alarming proportion appear to be a result of the 2000 New Years Eve celebrations. Despite ongoing attempts to clean up the problem, UXO continues to be a very real threat and, as recently as last year, four people were being maimed each day. Interestingly, it was the same four people, determined- if somewhat foolhardy- members of a local bush walking club.
-Phaic Tan
Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner & Rob Sitch
2004 Hardie Grant Books

Excellent book that, it's a piss take of the Lonely Planet and Rough Guides etc travel guides, had me in stitches on the long drive from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, on which the bus only broke down once. An American girl besides me asked me what I was laughing about and I passed it to her to read.

It took her 2 hours to work out it wasn't a real travel guide book.

Am in Vientiane at the moment, once again with France's previous colonisation of Laos (and surrounding regions but most prominent here) it is like a Asian Paris, complete with French architecture, Food, even lots of French people. On that note it turns out that Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia which has never been conquered by a foreign power.

Good for them.
Check out the pictures above, I defy anyone to spot the difference between here and the Montematre region in Paris.
Sacre Bleu!