When we arrived on the mainland from Koh Phi Phi, we made our way over to the bus station. As it turns out, the bus that we needed to take wasn't leaving for another FIVE hours. And this bus station was in the middle of nowhere, so we really had nothing to do. Also... we weren't 100% sure that this was the right bus we needed to take because there was a pretty strong language barrier between us and the station employees. There's no bus that goes directly to the monastery, so we had to get on a bus from Phuket to Bangkok and to just tell the driver where we need to be let off. Which... isn't so comforting when the language barrier is so formidable.
After we got out ticket situation sorted out and dropped off our bags at the storage area in the bus station, we walked down the road to find some food. We found this small, family-owned restaurant. When we got the menus, there wasn't a single word of English on them and a scant selection of photos. I managed to order a plate of fried chicken. I think. Unclear. After lunch we walked down the road to a cafe, which was... surprisingly nice. Super modern. The nicest cafe I've been to in a really long time. We killed a few hours there. BE started not feeling so hot and I felt really bad for her because this is not the kind of journey you want to be making when your sick. I gave her my jacket to use as a blanket as she curled up on the couch, but there wasn't really much else I could do for her.
We headed back to the bus station and found our way to our bus. We think. There was absolutely no way we could ever be sure. In any case, we got on, found our seats, and we were on our way! The bus made a few stops along the way. At 10pm, after about five or six hours on the bus it pulled over to the side of the road and someone told us "this is your stop." So the three of us got out of the bus and collected our bags. When I got off the bus, I took a quick scan around and saw... nothing. It was pitch black outside and all I saw was trees. I understand now why the retreat website said very specifically not to arrive after dark. So I asked the bus staff, "where is the monastery?" Actually I asked "Suan Mokkh?" which is the name of the monastery. But apparently I'm butchering the pronunciation because every time I've said it I've had to repeat it with slightly different intonations until I get to one that's close enough for the person to understand what I'm saying. The lady pointed to a sign that said "Suan Mokkh" on it. What a relief, ok great, at least we are in the right place. Miracles do happen. The bus drove away and the three of us were left here, in the dark, having no clue what to do next.
After a little more looking around, we did find the monastery next to the sign that said "Suan Mokkh" but there wasn't a single light on. Before I came on this trip, I bought this expensive flashlight the size of my index finger that's really powerful that I haven't used once in this entire trip. Except for now. Right at this moment I'm glad to have paid anything for that little miracle. I dug it out of my bag and climbed up the huge monastery steps to go investigate. When I got to the top, the doors were all chained shut. Great. I walked back down and informed the girls.
I had done some minimal amount of research about this retreat beforehand and I was pretty sure that the place we needed to go wasn't actually the monastery itself, but another building close by. FL confirmed as much and it turns out she had taken a picture of the map with her phone! I had seen that map online and it looked like it had been drawn by a 4th-grader so I basically ignored it, but oh man was I glad she didn't because now we had some vague idea of where we needed to go.
We walked a little bit up the road to where the "Pedestrian Bridge" is on the map so that we could cross the highway via the overpass above us. There was a pack of stray dogs on the steps going up and they were all staring us down. At this point in the night I was basically like, "whatever, I don't care, I need to get to this place no matter what" and was ready to face those dogs when FL was like "umm... I'm not going up that. Let's just cross the road." Oh. Right. I guess we can do that too and not face off with a pack of wild dogs. Good thinking. So we crossed the road and then kept going parallel to the highway until we came across this pitch black alley/road to our right. It looks like that's where the map was telling us to go... so we turned right and kept walking into the abyss.
BE was definitely not feeling well at this point and was really skeptical about the whole trip. At first I felt a little like, "come on, none of us really know what we're doing here, but at least we're trying," but I totally understood where she was coming from. It sucks to be sick. It sucks even more to be sick and in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night not knowing exactly where you're going.
We kept walking down this road with our huge, heavy packs, just trudging along. We took a couple breaks along the way, but never for too long because... well, we didn't know where we were or if it was safe to stop. On the map, there was this big blue oval that I assumed was water... but this place didn't look particularly watery. Luckily, about 20 or 30 minutes later we passed by a small body of water on our left and I thought, "that must be that blue oval on the map!" which was a huge relief because now we knew (or at the very least felt like we knew) we were on the right track.
Eventually we made it to where the road dead ended. We were met by a locked gate on our left... and a locked gate on our right. According to the map, the place was on the right. Hmm, ok, now what? It turns out that you could just... walk around the locked gate. I guess security isn't the hugest concern when you're a monastery in the middle of nowhere. We didn't really have another option at this point since again, there were no lights save my little flashlight and no one around at all. So I went first to make sure it was safe and made my way through some bush to the other side. It was a-okay so the girls followed. As we walked up the path, we saw a building with a truck parked out front on our left. We called out to see if anyone was there but didn't hear any answer. We kept walking up the path and found what looked to be a big open-air, covered dining area. There was a concrete floor with concrete benches and wooden tables with chairs. We walked around the side and saw what looked like a dish washing area. And on one side of the dining area there was... drumroll please........... A SIGN-UP BOARD FOR THE RETREAT! We were really, truly in the right place!
So here we were. No one around except the three of us. No lights except the moonlight and my flashlight. And we decided this was as good as any space to post up for the night. The three of us laid down in a row on the concrete bench.
I would have gotten my sleeping bag out but it was SO hot, it would have been worse with it than without it. I leaned up against my backpack and tried to fall asleep. I was pretty unsuccessful though. It was really hot. There were insects everywhere. And we kept hearing this rustling in the bushes. Plus I didn't feel all that comfortable "leaving" the girls and being asleep while we didn't really know what else might be around.
None of that really mattered to me though. We made it. The whole reason for my trip to Asia was this retreat, and now I was here.
CONTINUE ON to Meditation Retreat Part 2: So What's All This About a Meditation Retreat?
After we got out ticket situation sorted out and dropped off our bags at the storage area in the bus station, we walked down the road to find some food. We found this small, family-owned restaurant. When we got the menus, there wasn't a single word of English on them and a scant selection of photos. I managed to order a plate of fried chicken. I think. Unclear. After lunch we walked down the road to a cafe, which was... surprisingly nice. Super modern. The nicest cafe I've been to in a really long time. We killed a few hours there. BE started not feeling so hot and I felt really bad for her because this is not the kind of journey you want to be making when your sick. I gave her my jacket to use as a blanket as she curled up on the couch, but there wasn't really much else I could do for her.
We headed back to the bus station and found our way to our bus. We think. There was absolutely no way we could ever be sure. In any case, we got on, found our seats, and we were on our way! The bus made a few stops along the way. At 10pm, after about five or six hours on the bus it pulled over to the side of the road and someone told us "this is your stop." So the three of us got out of the bus and collected our bags. When I got off the bus, I took a quick scan around and saw... nothing. It was pitch black outside and all I saw was trees. I understand now why the retreat website said very specifically not to arrive after dark. So I asked the bus staff, "where is the monastery?" Actually I asked "Suan Mokkh?" which is the name of the monastery. But apparently I'm butchering the pronunciation because every time I've said it I've had to repeat it with slightly different intonations until I get to one that's close enough for the person to understand what I'm saying. The lady pointed to a sign that said "Suan Mokkh" on it. What a relief, ok great, at least we are in the right place. Miracles do happen. The bus drove away and the three of us were left here, in the dark, having no clue what to do next.
After a little more looking around, we did find the monastery next to the sign that said "Suan Mokkh" but there wasn't a single light on. Before I came on this trip, I bought this expensive flashlight the size of my index finger that's really powerful that I haven't used once in this entire trip. Except for now. Right at this moment I'm glad to have paid anything for that little miracle. I dug it out of my bag and climbed up the huge monastery steps to go investigate. When I got to the top, the doors were all chained shut. Great. I walked back down and informed the girls.
 |
| My favorite part of this map is the blue oval in the top-right. What?! map courtesy of http://www.suanmokkh-idh.org |
We walked a little bit up the road to where the "Pedestrian Bridge" is on the map so that we could cross the highway via the overpass above us. There was a pack of stray dogs on the steps going up and they were all staring us down. At this point in the night I was basically like, "whatever, I don't care, I need to get to this place no matter what" and was ready to face those dogs when FL was like "umm... I'm not going up that. Let's just cross the road." Oh. Right. I guess we can do that too and not face off with a pack of wild dogs. Good thinking. So we crossed the road and then kept going parallel to the highway until we came across this pitch black alley/road to our right. It looks like that's where the map was telling us to go... so we turned right and kept walking into the abyss.
BE was definitely not feeling well at this point and was really skeptical about the whole trip. At first I felt a little like, "come on, none of us really know what we're doing here, but at least we're trying," but I totally understood where she was coming from. It sucks to be sick. It sucks even more to be sick and in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night not knowing exactly where you're going.
We kept walking down this road with our huge, heavy packs, just trudging along. We took a couple breaks along the way, but never for too long because... well, we didn't know where we were or if it was safe to stop. On the map, there was this big blue oval that I assumed was water... but this place didn't look particularly watery. Luckily, about 20 or 30 minutes later we passed by a small body of water on our left and I thought, "that must be that blue oval on the map!" which was a huge relief because now we knew (or at the very least felt like we knew) we were on the right track.
Eventually we made it to where the road dead ended. We were met by a locked gate on our left... and a locked gate on our right. According to the map, the place was on the right. Hmm, ok, now what? It turns out that you could just... walk around the locked gate. I guess security isn't the hugest concern when you're a monastery in the middle of nowhere. We didn't really have another option at this point since again, there were no lights save my little flashlight and no one around at all. So I went first to make sure it was safe and made my way through some bush to the other side. It was a-okay so the girls followed. As we walked up the path, we saw a building with a truck parked out front on our left. We called out to see if anyone was there but didn't hear any answer. We kept walking up the path and found what looked to be a big open-air, covered dining area. There was a concrete floor with concrete benches and wooden tables with chairs. We walked around the side and saw what looked like a dish washing area. And on one side of the dining area there was... drumroll please........... A SIGN-UP BOARD FOR THE RETREAT! We were really, truly in the right place!
So here we were. No one around except the three of us. No lights except the moonlight and my flashlight. And we decided this was as good as any space to post up for the night. The three of us laid down in a row on the concrete bench.
 |
| This photo was taken the day after the retreat, but this is where we slept, on those concrete benches where people are sitting. |
I would have gotten my sleeping bag out but it was SO hot, it would have been worse with it than without it. I leaned up against my backpack and tried to fall asleep. I was pretty unsuccessful though. It was really hot. There were insects everywhere. And we kept hearing this rustling in the bushes. Plus I didn't feel all that comfortable "leaving" the girls and being asleep while we didn't really know what else might be around.
None of that really mattered to me though. We made it. The whole reason for my trip to Asia was this retreat, and now I was here.
CONTINUE ON to Meditation Retreat Part 2: So What's All This About a Meditation Retreat?
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