This time I'll do a longer one, at least 10 days, but hopefully around three weeks, depending on how I feel and how the place is. Today I bicycled to Wat Rampoeng to check the place out and ask some questions. Two friendly monks welcomed me and told me about the monastery. The difference between this one and the vipassana meditation I did in Nepal is that the meditation will be both walking and sitting (not just sitting, like in Nepal). I'll have to wear white long sleeved clothes all the time. It's also a little more free when it comes to times and schedule and I will be allowed to meditate wherever I want within the compound, not in the same meditation hall all the time.
When I got back to Chiang Mai, I went shopping for cheap white underwear (they're even strict that the underwear should be white!) and came back to my guest house with the ugliest underwear I'll ever wear, that's for sure. Maybe when I'm 80 I will wear such ugly underwear again, but not before that! After the meditation these undieas will go straight to the trash can, and no one will ever see them!
When I first got to Bangkok, I had quite a culture shock! I hadn't seen so many white butts for a really long time! Everybody told me that it was really quiet because of the curfew and the riots, but to me it was crazy... Another thing that I noticed was that the area around Kao San hadn't changed in at least seven years ago(last time I was there). Everything was exactly the same, even the same stalls with the same stuff for sale. Such a weird feeling! I felt like I had travelled back in time.. Bangkok felt safe the two days that I spent there. Tourists were rekommended not to go outside the touristy areas around Kao San, so there wasn't much to do except eat fruit, drink fruit shakes, tighten the dreads and upload pictures on facebook. The heat was hard to deal with, combined with the humidity it felt like a sauna! During the night I was lying under my fan sweating and wondering if it could get any hotter.
On the second night I took the train to Chiang Mai, where I am now. Today I've bicycled around looking at temples and enjoying life.
So - no more updates for 10-26 days, depending on how the meditation goes! Around the 20th of June, I'm headed for Laos.
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