Field Trip - Sena homestay and Ayutthaya temples
(this is a paper i wrote for a class, but it is revised with some extra notes for this blog)
Our journey to historic Ayutthaya began with a semi-frightening van ride with a driver who spoke only a few words of English. He drove wildly and was always smiling. We suspect he was drunk. After stopping at a gas station for some American food (aka hamburgers and fries) at a gas station and running over a stray dog, we reached the Sena countryside, where our homestay was located.
A note on the stray dog incident - it was horrifying. He was driving so fast and I saw the dog run out in the middle of the road. He pressed on his brakes slightly, but not enough. The dog was frozen in fear. A moment later I felt a bump. I covered my eyes and was about to cry. Then everyone else in the van assured me that we did not run over the dog and they saw him run into the woods, unharmed. I think they said it just to calm me down. I don't believe them.
what is a homestay? A homestay is a traditional thai home that allows tourists to stay 1 or 2 nights. dinner, breakfast, a boat tour, and thai dance is included. basically, it's an immersion in to thai culture.
I had originally thought that our homestay was going to be in Ayutthaya, but it was actually just outside the city in a charming area that was crawling with wildlife, small dirt roads and houses on stilts. In other words, it was an extremely photogenic place, mostly because I am not used to being in areas so underdeveloped and natural.
We took our belongings inside the house and got introduced to our hosts. It was somewhat unclear if our hosts were actually related and all lived in the house. One of the hosts, a woman named Thim (whom we didn’t meet until later), spoke enough English to communicate with us. The other hosts, an older woman who stayed in the kitchen and a man named Thom, did not speak English at all. Fortunately, the hosts were prepared for the language barrier and did not become upset or overwhelmed. A couple people on the trip were able to speak thai and translated back and forth between the strictly English speakers and the strictly thai speakers.
My first impression of them was very positive. They smiled a lot, helped with our bags, showed us the restrooms, and made us feel comfortable in our new environment. Based on the location of their home and the general appearance of it, I concluded that our hosts do not need much to get by. There was no television or air conditioning. They had a radio, but didn’t use it often. In an area like Sena, fishing and gardening are large sources of income. In one corner of the dock and hanging on various trees, I saw plastic bags filled with dirt. Jutting out of each plastic bag was a stick, the beginning of a tree. We all wondered what the purpose of these bags were and we found out they sold trees as one source of income. Such an occupation, in addition to conducting the homestay project, probably gave them a stable economic status. The woman, Thim, was also a school teacher. Whether or not she is a member of the family is unclear, but since she helped conduct the activities at the house, I included her as part of the family.
After we became acquainted with the house, me and a couple other people went off to take some pictures. From a distance, we heard children singing. We decided to follow the sound and the man, Thom, helped guide us. The paths around the area are worn and narrow. The whole situation reminded me of a scene out of a movie and was somewhat dramatic. We came upon a schoolhouse full of children ages 4 to 11 (approximately). They were all sitting on the floor and had just finished singing when we walked up. We were introduced to the children and then the children that could speak English asked us questions about ourselves. It was really great being able to meet the children and see what a small rural elementary school is like. I took some great black and white film pictures, but no digital. so you all will have to wait till i get back to see the school children.
Going on the river tour really gave us a taste of what Sena is like. Three of the children from the schoolhouse showed up at the homestay along with the teacher, Thim. We ventured along and saw houses and families along the way. Most every neighbor that noticed us was very friendly and waved. And then something slightly awkward happened. A woman was bathing in the river. When she saw this boat filled with a bunch of people, she quickly ducked under the water. It was pretty funny.
During our river tour, we stopped at the village temple. It housed a large Buddha statue that we all sat in front of. Those who practiced Buddhism knelt on the ground and prayed to the structure. One of the schoolchildren, a boy who spoke English very well, got a can of long, numbered sticks and told me to shake it. The first stick to fall out of the can would correspond to a fortune I would receive. I got number 7, so the boy got the number 7 sheet of paper. I couldn't read it so somebody else tried to read it for me. Apparently, it was a good fortune. It reminded me of chinese fortune cookies, the way your luck is based on chance.
After the river tour, we had a traditional thai dinner. When me and the other two vegetarians saw that there were not any vegetarian dishes available, I was amazed at the hospitality of our hosts. They promptly went outside, picked fresh lotus, brought it back and cooked the stem for us. They also made one other vegetable dish. At first I was a little worried about the cleanliness of the dishes since they were just picked out of a river and cooked within 10 minutes. After tasting how good they were, though, I had no complaints.
A note on the food - it was really delicious. Who knew that lotus stems that, 10 minutes prior, had been sticking out of the ground could taste so great.
The remainder of the night was spent watching a traditional thai dance and being taught how to make a thai desert involving banana leaves, sticky rice, coconut milk, banana, and black beans. The dance was awesome. It was a young girl and two young women.
I woke up at 4am even though 5:30am was the official wake up time. My early rising gave me the chance to see the sun come up and watch the sky change into different purples and magentas. Slowly, the neighbors across the river began waking up and starting their daily routines. At around 6am, a monk paddled up to the dock on his canoe and collected 14 plates of offerings. The offerings included candles, a flower, incense sticks, rice, and water. We had been told earlier not to look a monk in the eyes, so when it was my turn to transfer the offerings from the glass plate to the monk’s metal tin, I was very careful. I don’t understand certain rules that the monks follow, but I try to do my best to follow them. I was curious what the monk was going to do with all the food that was being given to him. I figured he would share it among the other monks. I didn’t realize that they would have to eat the food before noon or else give it away. The rule of not eating after noon but being able to drink fluids confuses me and I have yet to learn the reason behind this. I suppose it could be partly teach that contentment is obtained through discipline and restriction.
Get rid of all attachments, end suffering.
Everyone was worried for awhile that we would not have a tour guide for visiting the temples. As it turned out, Mr. Pok came to the rescue and used his knowledge and charisma to teach us about the three different locations. Mr. Pok was definitely an interesting individual and I think everyone really enjoyed having him around. He had a mole on his face that sprouted a long tusk of gray hair. This was his most disarming quality. haha.
The first temple we visited was called, according to the ticket, Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol, which means The Great Temple of Auspicious Victory. Dating back to 1357 A.D., this monastery was built by King U-thong so that the monks could use it. The most popular structure at this particular temple was the reclining Buddha. As we walked further, we came upon a temple where people were giving offerings and praying. As always in these situations, I feel a bit uncomfortable because I feel like I should be showing my respects instead of just standing and watching. Since I don’t practice, Buddhism, though, it would be hypocritical of me to pray to something I don’t believe in. I watch how the followers kneel so low to the ground, almost laying down, and it is amazing to me how important Buddhism must be to them. I never grew up practicing a particular religion so witnessing people practicing a particular religion is always interesting to me.
Next, we visited the old monastery, Wat Panan Choeng. The most popular attraction there is Luang Po To, the largest ancient Buddha image, which dates back to 1344 A.D. The Buddha is normally bronze covered in goldleaf but, unfortunately, it was being renovated while we were there. Our tour guide explained to us that the Buddha image was created out of an ancient myth involving a Thai Prince and a Chinese Princess. Apparently, the prince and princess were in love and the prince promised to meet her one day. He never showed up so she killed herself. Mr. Pok asked us females if we would do the same if our boyfriend stood us up. I said, "No man is worth killing myself for." All the girls thought the same thing. Anyway, after the suicide, the Prince built the Buddha statue to symbolize the princess. I do not know if there’s any truth to this, but it makes an interesting story nonetheless. The Buddha was black and hard to see, even when you tried to look at it from different angles. I feel embarrassed saying this, but at first I didn’t even notice that there was a Buddha statue there until I looked a little closer. It was almost camouflage. I witnessed one ritual that was particularly interesting. People praying to the Buddha would give money to have a robe thrown down to them. The robe was orange/yellow, the same color as the monks’ robes. Several of these robes would extend from the Buddha to the ground below. The people praying would cover themselves with the robes and pray. Afterwards, a monk sprinkled water on them. Without twitching, the followers would have water rained on them as a blessing. And it wasn't just a little bit of water. It was a lot. They basically got a shower, just for praying.
The last place we visited was Wat Changlom, which was characterized by brick architecture, ancient ruins, headless Buddhas, and the tree with the Buddha’s head carved in to it. One of the rules at Wat Changlom was that if you were going to photograph the tree carving, you had to get low to the ground and not take the picture standing up. Since the carving is close to the ground, they do not want a photograph to be shot from above, creating distortion. It’s the same at art museums - if you are allowed to take pictures of the art, you are not allowed to use a flash because it will distort the image.
It was a wonderful, amazing trip.
(this is a paper i wrote for a class, but it is revised with some extra notes for this blog)
Our journey to historic Ayutthaya began with a semi-frightening van ride with a driver who spoke only a few words of English. He drove wildly and was always smiling. We suspect he was drunk. After stopping at a gas station for some American food (aka hamburgers and fries) at a gas station and running over a stray dog, we reached the Sena countryside, where our homestay was located.
A note on the stray dog incident - it was horrifying. He was driving so fast and I saw the dog run out in the middle of the road. He pressed on his brakes slightly, but not enough. The dog was frozen in fear. A moment later I felt a bump. I covered my eyes and was about to cry. Then everyone else in the van assured me that we did not run over the dog and they saw him run into the woods, unharmed. I think they said it just to calm me down. I don't believe them.
what is a homestay? A homestay is a traditional thai home that allows tourists to stay 1 or 2 nights. dinner, breakfast, a boat tour, and thai dance is included. basically, it's an immersion in to thai culture.
I had originally thought that our homestay was going to be in Ayutthaya, but it was actually just outside the city in a charming area that was crawling with wildlife, small dirt roads and houses on stilts. In other words, it was an extremely photogenic place, mostly because I am not used to being in areas so underdeveloped and natural.
We took our belongings inside the house and got introduced to our hosts. It was somewhat unclear if our hosts were actually related and all lived in the house. One of the hosts, a woman named Thim (whom we didn’t meet until later), spoke enough English to communicate with us. The other hosts, an older woman who stayed in the kitchen and a man named Thom, did not speak English at all. Fortunately, the hosts were prepared for the language barrier and did not become upset or overwhelmed. A couple people on the trip were able to speak thai and translated back and forth between the strictly English speakers and the strictly thai speakers.
My first impression of them was very positive. They smiled a lot, helped with our bags, showed us the restrooms, and made us feel comfortable in our new environment. Based on the location of their home and the general appearance of it, I concluded that our hosts do not need much to get by. There was no television or air conditioning. They had a radio, but didn’t use it often. In an area like Sena, fishing and gardening are large sources of income. In one corner of the dock and hanging on various trees, I saw plastic bags filled with dirt. Jutting out of each plastic bag was a stick, the beginning of a tree. We all wondered what the purpose of these bags were and we found out they sold trees as one source of income. Such an occupation, in addition to conducting the homestay project, probably gave them a stable economic status. The woman, Thim, was also a school teacher. Whether or not she is a member of the family is unclear, but since she helped conduct the activities at the house, I included her as part of the family.
After we became acquainted with the house, me and a couple other people went off to take some pictures. From a distance, we heard children singing. We decided to follow the sound and the man, Thom, helped guide us. The paths around the area are worn and narrow. The whole situation reminded me of a scene out of a movie and was somewhat dramatic. We came upon a schoolhouse full of children ages 4 to 11 (approximately). They were all sitting on the floor and had just finished singing when we walked up. We were introduced to the children and then the children that could speak English asked us questions about ourselves. It was really great being able to meet the children and see what a small rural elementary school is like. I took some great black and white film pictures, but no digital. so you all will have to wait till i get back to see the school children.
Going on the river tour really gave us a taste of what Sena is like. Three of the children from the schoolhouse showed up at the homestay along with the teacher, Thim. We ventured along and saw houses and families along the way. Most every neighbor that noticed us was very friendly and waved. And then something slightly awkward happened. A woman was bathing in the river. When she saw this boat filled with a bunch of people, she quickly ducked under the water. It was pretty funny.
During our river tour, we stopped at the village temple. It housed a large Buddha statue that we all sat in front of. Those who practiced Buddhism knelt on the ground and prayed to the structure. One of the schoolchildren, a boy who spoke English very well, got a can of long, numbered sticks and told me to shake it. The first stick to fall out of the can would correspond to a fortune I would receive. I got number 7, so the boy got the number 7 sheet of paper. I couldn't read it so somebody else tried to read it for me. Apparently, it was a good fortune. It reminded me of chinese fortune cookies, the way your luck is based on chance.
After the river tour, we had a traditional thai dinner. When me and the other two vegetarians saw that there were not any vegetarian dishes available, I was amazed at the hospitality of our hosts. They promptly went outside, picked fresh lotus, brought it back and cooked the stem for us. They also made one other vegetable dish. At first I was a little worried about the cleanliness of the dishes since they were just picked out of a river and cooked within 10 minutes. After tasting how good they were, though, I had no complaints.
A note on the food - it was really delicious. Who knew that lotus stems that, 10 minutes prior, had been sticking out of the ground could taste so great.
The remainder of the night was spent watching a traditional thai dance and being taught how to make a thai desert involving banana leaves, sticky rice, coconut milk, banana, and black beans. The dance was awesome. It was a young girl and two young women.
I woke up at 4am even though 5:30am was the official wake up time. My early rising gave me the chance to see the sun come up and watch the sky change into different purples and magentas. Slowly, the neighbors across the river began waking up and starting their daily routines. At around 6am, a monk paddled up to the dock on his canoe and collected 14 plates of offerings. The offerings included candles, a flower, incense sticks, rice, and water. We had been told earlier not to look a monk in the eyes, so when it was my turn to transfer the offerings from the glass plate to the monk’s metal tin, I was very careful. I don’t understand certain rules that the monks follow, but I try to do my best to follow them. I was curious what the monk was going to do with all the food that was being given to him. I figured he would share it among the other monks. I didn’t realize that they would have to eat the food before noon or else give it away. The rule of not eating after noon but being able to drink fluids confuses me and I have yet to learn the reason behind this. I suppose it could be partly teach that contentment is obtained through discipline and restriction.
Get rid of all attachments, end suffering.
Everyone was worried for awhile that we would not have a tour guide for visiting the temples. As it turned out, Mr. Pok came to the rescue and used his knowledge and charisma to teach us about the three different locations. Mr. Pok was definitely an interesting individual and I think everyone really enjoyed having him around. He had a mole on his face that sprouted a long tusk of gray hair. This was his most disarming quality. haha.
The first temple we visited was called, according to the ticket, Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol, which means The Great Temple of Auspicious Victory. Dating back to 1357 A.D., this monastery was built by King U-thong so that the monks could use it. The most popular structure at this particular temple was the reclining Buddha. As we walked further, we came upon a temple where people were giving offerings and praying. As always in these situations, I feel a bit uncomfortable because I feel like I should be showing my respects instead of just standing and watching. Since I don’t practice, Buddhism, though, it would be hypocritical of me to pray to something I don’t believe in. I watch how the followers kneel so low to the ground, almost laying down, and it is amazing to me how important Buddhism must be to them. I never grew up practicing a particular religion so witnessing people practicing a particular religion is always interesting to me.
Next, we visited the old monastery, Wat Panan Choeng. The most popular attraction there is Luang Po To, the largest ancient Buddha image, which dates back to 1344 A.D. The Buddha is normally bronze covered in goldleaf but, unfortunately, it was being renovated while we were there. Our tour guide explained to us that the Buddha image was created out of an ancient myth involving a Thai Prince and a Chinese Princess. Apparently, the prince and princess were in love and the prince promised to meet her one day. He never showed up so she killed herself. Mr. Pok asked us females if we would do the same if our boyfriend stood us up. I said, "No man is worth killing myself for." All the girls thought the same thing. Anyway, after the suicide, the Prince built the Buddha statue to symbolize the princess. I do not know if there’s any truth to this, but it makes an interesting story nonetheless. The Buddha was black and hard to see, even when you tried to look at it from different angles. I feel embarrassed saying this, but at first I didn’t even notice that there was a Buddha statue there until I looked a little closer. It was almost camouflage. I witnessed one ritual that was particularly interesting. People praying to the Buddha would give money to have a robe thrown down to them. The robe was orange/yellow, the same color as the monks’ robes. Several of these robes would extend from the Buddha to the ground below. The people praying would cover themselves with the robes and pray. Afterwards, a monk sprinkled water on them. Without twitching, the followers would have water rained on them as a blessing. And it wasn't just a little bit of water. It was a lot. They basically got a shower, just for praying.
The last place we visited was Wat Changlom, which was characterized by brick architecture, ancient ruins, headless Buddhas, and the tree with the Buddha’s head carved in to it. One of the rules at Wat Changlom was that if you were going to photograph the tree carving, you had to get low to the ground and not take the picture standing up. Since the carving is close to the ground, they do not want a photograph to be shot from above, creating distortion. It’s the same at art museums - if you are allowed to take pictures of the art, you are not allowed to use a flash because it will distort the image.
It was a wonderful, amazing trip.
posted by Buddha at 7:06 AM
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