Arthur's Diary, Week 4: Monks, Meditation & a Beer in Pai

Arthur is 65, retired, and spending three months travelling solo (with company when he wants it!) through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. These are his diary entries - an honest view from the first ever DECADES trip, written for anyone wondering whether to make the leap themselves.

Life with the monks

An interesting couple of days in a meditation retreat with Buddhist monks. It was very basic as you'd expect with an opportunity to follow their way of life for a couple of days. Not sure what I think of chanting - whether it's 0530 or 1830. I'll Google translate the words and see if that helps! Meditation is always good, but on demand isn't always easy.

"Wish my grandad would do that"

It's becoming a recurring theme that our travelling group of four are surrounded by travellers in their 20s, often travelling solo, or in small temporal groups which I admire. Less sure that they think it's "cute" that people "our age" are doing much the same - "wish my dad / grandad would do that!".

The Taking of Alms

I'm in two minds about the Taking of Alms, the cynic in me saw a religious order accepting gifts from the poor people - aren't they the ones they're meant to help? It wasn't helped when our group met up with monks from a different temple, waited for them to leave a house in a poor mountain village before we then went to the same house expecting donations. And this happens seven days a week . . .

The rules

And I stuck to all the rules, including fasting (so only eating frugally at 0730 and 1130), no alcohol, killing, stealing or sex, and a complete shutdown of technology except for the camera. Gosh! That got heavy didn't it? Consequently, I'm sat in a bar in Pai enjoying a beer whilst I write this post.