Time to be mindful at Wat Ram Poeng

September 16th, 2003 at 12:00am

Well I survived the insect invasion last night, but just barely. It was a very restless night with the ants crawling all over me and the occasional random bug that would hit me in the face. Not what I imagined would be a so-called peaceful retreat. I’m just hoping that when I get moved to my own room in another day or two that it will be better there.

4am this morning was the wake-up call, but I happily ignored it since I’m not technically starting my retreat until 1pm today and I really needed the extra sleep after last night. 6am was breakfast, and since we’re not allowed to talk, I watched and followed everyone else and hoped that I was doing everything right. I saw about 5 or 6 other foreigners and the rest were Thai. The women and men are not allowed to sit together so you have women on one side and men on the other. I sat at a table with two Thai women. First we had to chant a breakfast prayer (in Pali and Thai), and then we got to chow. Actually, you are supposed to eat very slowly and be mindful the entire time. I paced myself with the Thai women, and the one thing that I noticed was that all of the foreigners were finished first – so much for mindfulness y’all! I was the last person in the whole place to finish my meal. Before I got up, another Thai woman came over and offered me some fruit and crackers – it was so nice of her! I don’t know if she was part of the welcoming committee or what, but it was a very nice gesture.

After brekky I did a round a Tai Chi and then caught up on some much needed sleep. 10:30am was the lunch call, same routine as before, although this time I noticed more foreigners who I’m guessing slept through breakfast. After ‘lunch’ you are not allowed to eat anything for the rest of the day (until sunrise the next day), but you can drink as much juice, coffee, tea, or soda as you want.

Now it is noon and I’m waiting for my introductory meeting at 1pm. Then I guess I have to stop thinking for awhile. I hope this turns out to be a good thing because right now the whole thing is appearing to be a bit hokey and like a big waste of time. I noticed a lot of the foreigners talking to each other and most of them sitting around like normal with no ‘mindfulness’ in them whatsoever. But I have to give it a go otherwise I’ll never know. Well, it’s time for another floor sweep to clear out a few thousand more bugs.

My upgade to the deluxe accommodation for foreigners

Entry Filed under: Chiang Mai,North,Thailand