Written on 1/11/12
It's been three days since I landed in bangkok. My plan was to be here for a couple of days, get some malaria meds, and make my way out to the monastery. That has proven to be much more difficult since everything here runs of a different rhythm than what I am used to. The drivers of Taxi's, tuk tuks, and motor bikes speed along the road ways, honking their horns only occasionally to let someone know there coming through. The best is when you're walking along the side walk, and at the same time that a monk is talking on his cellphone, a motorcycle drives right next to him. After have odd hours of sleep the day and night before, I and a random hostel buddy went out for breakfast. As we strode past the Hindu temple, garlands being strung and sold on the street, cats in a posse ran past us while a dog laid in between two trash cans sleeping. Getting to the hole in the wall restaurant, the food was all being cooked outside in gas heated woks. Great gobs of who knows what piled in metal trays. I pointed and hoped for the best, but was assured by the simple phrase of 'Jay' (the thai word for vegetarian), that I'd be safe. I ordered fried bananas wrapped in some kind of leaf, with rice, and spicy veggies. I watched the chef take the food out of the tray, and heat it with coconut oil in the wok. 5 minutes later, a hot plate of food donned itself to me. The food was anything less than amazing. The Englishman sitting in front of me had a skeptical smile, and looked at me like I'd taken him to eat in a parallel universe. But in the end, dove in, loving every taste of it.
Through the course of my day, after getting scammed to buy popcorn kernels for pigeons to celebrate the new year (100 baht!), and scammed by a taxi driver who drove us all around town getting us lost and then trying to charge us 200 baht for the ride, my patience for bangkok was running thin. And still there is a calmness here. The few shanti homes that I saw traveling along the river by boat had people waving in absolute pleasure. The temples where massive golden buddhas sat and laid, were teaming with faithful devotees of the path. These little shops where, beyond the people that are pressuring you to buy everything in the store, are content folks who chat away, not really caring whether or not you buy something. There really is a feeling here that I can't really describe, except through experienced story. That's bangkok.
A word on meditation:
Meditation, to be honest, has been difficult. I seem to be distracted by uncomfortable feelings more than anything else. But I continue to sit, laughing when I get to the point of hot boredom. When I come out of the meditation, I am happy, content, and light hearted. That's what my practice is right now. And because of that growth, there is change, which is always difficult. I'm learning to love it all anyway. The more that I continue this practice into my daily living, the more purpose driven I feel.
A few words I've left on sheets of paper at temples:
Sitting in front of you, inside me
The gold transcends as love of the
common invisible.
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