The Travel Gap

This week has been full of education. From my experiential learning with monks to trying to teach English to children, I’ve been learning nonstop. The Ariya Center After the conclusion of last week’s Buddhist ceremony in the local jungle temple, Pa Lam enthusiastically informed me that I was invited by a panel of high ranking monks to join her in a five-day stay at a Buddhist monastery called the Ariya Center.

Unquestionably, the feature piece of my week (and arguably of my entire time here in Thailand) is that I spent the weekend at a Buddhist monastery. From sleeping in a 7’x10' shack to watching over 250 monks receive their morning alms, it was truly the adventure I needed to get over last week’s dry spell.

Introduction This week has definitely been an outlier. I was confined to my room (or at least a room) for the majority of the week. As a result, I don’t have as many pictures and adventures to share as the previous weeks.

Warning: this post discusses sicknesses and various unpleasant symptoms outside of the normal scope of this blog. If this is something that you don’t want to read about, then I would suggest you to skip over this post. My Illness in Thailand Staying true to the motifs of the previous two weeks, this has been a week unlike any other. On Sunday, everyone at Thai Baan Association (TBA) was preparing for the huge celebration on Monday in honor of Pa Lam, the director, turning fifty.

Introduction After spending a week in Bangkok by myself, I figured this week would be a breeze. Boy was I wrong. Life in Plaboo Village is drastically different from anything I’ve ever experienced. This entire week has been filled with me learning about their food, beliefs, and way of life.