Buddhist Lent Parade

Last week we had Thursday and Friday off for the Buddhist Lent Holiday celebrating the start of the rainy season and to mark the start of the three-month period when all the Buddhist Monks are to stay in their temples.

We were told a day before to come with some of the teachers to try on some traditional Thai clothing as we would be part of the school march down the main road of Mae Sai to represent our school in the parade. We each chose a colour in the beautiful Thai silk materials. The materials were large pieces of fabric which they draped around our wastes then tied rightly with a piece of string around our waste and fastened with a gold belt. The top began with a bandage strapped tightly around our chest, then a matching piece of material to our skirts was wrapped around and made into a form of sari which hang over our shoulder and down behind us. We were then decorated with matching gold necklaces and earrings.

The next day we arrived to get dressed up again. There were already about 20 Thai students all dressed up and ready to go. The girls looked incredible, like little dolls with false eye lashes and full make up on. Today the dressing up part took a lot longer as the Thai teachers wanted the material to all fall at the perfect lengths, it was a lot of wrapping and unwrapping, and today the string and bandage was a lot tighter. We had our hair braided and twisted around at the back of our heads like Rapunzel and our make up done. We then waited for a van to pick us up and take us to the main street.

The parade consisted of a one kilometre walk in which us ‘Farang’ teachers lead, holding shiny goblets and a large photograph of Buddha. The thai-english coordinator asked us first if we were comfortable with this incase it was against our religions. We were all fine with it and just felt priviledged to be included in the ceremony. There was a lot of photos and videos, a lot of walking in the heat and in our tight costumes. After the parade ended we headed back to school for the rest of our lessons to our classes who were all shocked to see us in Thai makeup and hair styles, all exclaiming ‘Suay!’ (beautiful).

School Temple Visit

To begin the Rainy Season, and celebrate the beginning of the Buddhist Lent Holiday. The school went on a trip to the nearest temple. Buddhist lent begins after the full moon day in July. It is said that in the rainy season, the Buddhist monks accidentally stepped on and killed young plants and insects. Buddha called all the monks to a gathering and said, “Behold monks, I grant you all to stay in the monastery in the rainy season.” So for three months the monks are supposed to stay in the temple after dusk, they aren’t allowed to stay overnight anywhere unless its very special circumstances.

At school each class were given a candle to bring to the temple, and people contributed to the money trees that the school was beginning decorated mainly with 100 baht notes. The classes all lined up at school and walked over to the temple together. Some teachers and students also contributed to some alms (food and other donations collected in baskets or buckets) for the monks. The temple ceremony lasted about an hour. We had to sit on the floor with our legs facing sideways (crossed legged is rude as your feet should always point behind you and never towards somebody especially a monk). There was a lot of praying and song, the candles were lit and a monk led us in more prayer. I was very moved at how familiar the students were at temple rituals. It shows just how big a part of life it is for these children who are so spiritually and culturally aware. They all take their shoes off, sit down with their legs to the side and chant in time perfectly without being told what to do, and that’s even the kindergarten students!

Meeting a Monk

I have always been fascinated by the lives of Monks since travelling to China when I was 16 and visiting many monks’ temples. I remember the experience of meeting the Chinese Monks as being daunting. They weren’t allowed to make eye contact with a woman let alone speak with them. This is why when I arrived in Chiang Mai in April and a vanload of monks drove past smiling and waving I just about fell over in shock. After meeting and speaking in depth with a monk in Chiang Mai over the weekend on my birthday, I learned that the lives of Thai monks are very different to those of Chinese Monks.

We stopped off to get a smoothie outside a temple on our way back from breakfast on Saturday morning. Sitting outside having his breakfast was a beautiful Thai monk dressed in his orange robes. He greeted us and invited us to sit down and speak with him. His English was so good, he told us, because everyday he spent chatting to foreigners while they waited for their smoothies outside his temple. He shared with them what he had learned in his Buddhist studies, in return practicing his English and hearing all of the different accents that come through Chiang Mai everyday.

To be a monk in Thailand is not a lifetime or even long term commitment. Any male (or female if you want to be a nun) can leave their normal lives for a short or long period of time, and become a monk, easily slipping back to normal life afterwards. Obviously the longer one stays a monk the more benefits they will reap from the experience. It is a given that every man in Thailand will be a monk for sometime in their lives. While you are a monk there are certain rules to follow. The monks are of the highest ranking citizen in Thailand. They aren’t allowed to work, so rely completely on the society to provide them with food. They are allowed to ride the bus for free, and are given hampers of food called alms in return for them blessing the people that are giving it to them. Here in Mae Sai where we eat breakfast, the people from the restaurant prepare the alms for them everyday then kneel before the monk each morning while he sings to them, blessing them. While you are a monk you aren’t allowed a wife or husband, and aren’t allowed to touch females.

Buddhism knowledge and practice is clearly engrained in the lives of Thai people from a young age; my Grade 1 class sits in meditation for at least ten minutes each morning. It’s a beautiful culture and lifestyle to live by and I hope to learn more about it in my remaining few months in Thailand.

Y O G A

Abi and I have been looking for yoga classes in Mae Sai ever since we arrived. With no luck on google or asking locals, we have been doing our own yoga on the rooftop. It has been a beautiful setting especially at sunrise and sunset, but when we heard about a Thai yoga studio opening up here in Mae Sai we were excited to try it out! A Burmese man who spoke really good Thai and English taught our first lesson. He found out our names before class and made sure to include us in the jokes he made throughout class. The class was beginner but is going to progress over the month, and most people sign up for a month and come every day. We decided to sign up for a month as well, which was 2000 thai baht, its rather pricey ($80) but after our days at school its great to do something relaxing like this and in the Shavasana (lying down) pose at the end of class we have drifted off to sleep more than once. The studio is well equipped with complimentary mats and bricks, filtered water and nice toilets. The poses are shown to us by a teacher and her assistant, then the assistant walks around the class and helps us move if we are doing anything wrong. Its also helping with our thai as we have learned the words for inhale and exhale, and feet together. I have decided to try yoga with my class in PE this week so I will make a post about how this goes after the lesson. Fingers crossed!  

                                              

The Golden Triangle

Last weekend was one of those weekends we decided not to go away and to stay in Mae Sai to save money. But this didn’t stop us from planning a great adventure! We filled up our scooters with petrol, (this only costs about 60-80 thai baht) and headed towards Mae Chaen for the golden triangle. The golden triangle is the point where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet on the Mekong River. It also has something to do with the opium trafficking in this area, hence the name golden triangle. It took us about forty minutes to scooter there over some beautiful mountains overlooking the most stunning scenery I have ever seen. I was taking one passenger and Emma was on her own scooter, with plans to swap for the journey home later.

We arrived in a quaint little backpacker town with a few shops, markets, a giant Buddha and an amazing little pizza restaurant which we went to for lunch. We looked around the town and watched a Thai dance performance that we stumbled upon along the road. The drive home was equally if not more stunning with mountains, rice fields and jungle stretching ahead endlessly.