Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Bodh Gaya.


Where to start ? We arrived on the 15 th to this incredible place, India is quite something , Bodh Gaya is something more, all of the good , the bad and the ugly , and more , much more.

This is the place where Siddhartha realized all and became the Buddha , for us this is quite the inspiration to be in a place where the Man actually walked and sat and meditated, to describe our time here would require a more gifted writer then I am.

We've been pretty busy , going back and forth between the Maha Bodhi temple for meditation practice, and our residence, the Vietnamese temple , and the requisite side trips to Nalanda and Rajgir by car , soaking in some local colour and again being baffled by all the Indian-ness of it all, the poverty , the dirt, the noise , the impossible and the beauty ,oh well ....
We walked to the Pragh Bodhi cave, a 2 hour hike through rice fields, the river and quiet little villages, lots of people everywhere, but very civilized and clean ,dirt poor.

Computer hassles prevent me from putting photo's here , I'll do that later,

Friday, November 14, 2008

Loi Krathong



The big festival on the full moon in November, when we set afloat little boats made out of banana leaves decorated with flowers and candle and incense sticks, as a thanking to the water for all the life it provides.Afterwards a nice long chanting session till midnight.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Settling in...

Jodi lurking in the bush and thinking about where to go.
Venerable Ajahn Tong on his Alms round.

Parade time, the foreign meditators join the fun.

Khun Thanat with grandson Titan.

Well that was our Ceremony outing , we started of with a good 2 hour wait, followed by a short parade, and then the Katina ( Robes giving ) ceremony, customarily at the end of the Rains retreat.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Our world in Chomthong

That's Jodi's house, and a very nice Hibiscus.

Our kuti's from the '"road"

Saturday, November 1, 2008

We're on the road to.............





Well that's quite the journey from Buckley Bay train station on Monday nicely delivered by John, to Suvarnabhumi airport courtesy of Korean Air, and then the KT Guesthouse in Bangkok on Friday at 1.30 a.m. for a swim ,to well we're here now in Chomtong in our Kuti's ,a bit upside down , wide awake at 2am.
Warm muggy Chomtong, where we have a wet tail end of a dry rainy season, so lush everything, and a bumpy computer connection........
Oh , and did I mention the pool at the KT ? It's tough...............