Suan Mokkh, Southern ThailandOkay... 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.
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...
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