The Magician Monk

Quite spontaneously, my friends invited me to go to the Wat in Ban Paeng this weekend. I've wanted to go to Ban Paeng since I got here because it's less than 2 hours away and it has waterfalls, so when they invited me I immediately packed my bags before even asking if it was okay - it was though :)

Before I left yesterday afternoon I came down the stairs to find my host father sitting at his desk smiling at me wearing a rice harvesting straw hat. Seriously, I don't understand all his crazy costumes but he makes me kill myself laughing, so he's a pretty cool man.
Klao and Kate are my twin friends, and I set off with them, their Khun Yai / Khun Ta [grandmother/grandfather], Khun Loong [Uncle] and Khun Mae [Mom] to Ban Paeng. The entire way there, Khun Mae and Khun Yai marvelled at my ear piercings. It was a very funny conversation. Khun Yai also tried to speak to me in Laos [which I can't understand] which ended up with the weekend being devoted to teaching me Laos. I shall be quite fluent with languages by the end of the year. We picked up Khun Na [Aunt] and their two cousins [one of which is the smallest and most adorable 13 month old I've ever seen] and headed to the Wat.

I love Thai countryside. Not only are there cows and buffalos wandering everywhere, but it was amazing to watch all the people harvesting the rice in the big fields. There were so many streams, ponds and mountains that were breathtaking. I didn't have to speak with anyone, I just stared out the window in awe for almost the whole drive.

When we arrived at the Wat there was a party going on. It was dark by then and there were lights strung up everywhere with tents set up with food. Free food. We wandered around the temple grounds, eating deep fried sticky rice and I was introduced to many people who ALL happen to be Kate/Klao's cousins; even the head monk who built the temple is their cousin. But more about him later. We then went to Khun Yai/Khun Ta's house and Klao and I went to the market to buy some food. We got roti and mangoes. They refused to eat my mangoes though, because they weren't sour like the unripe ones. That's right, Thai people eat sour, unripe mangoes and dip them in fish sauce. Khun Mae set to work making Chai yen and Iced Coffee to give out to people at the Wat the next day. Kate and I slept in a small room and she seriously increased my Laos vocabulary.
The interesting thing about this house was that it was completely open. Half of the walls were chain link fences that were attached to the roof and the walls didn't fit together, so there were foot wide cracks between the rooms. It was really interesting to spend a night in a village house, where the kitchen is classicly Isaan [outside with none of the luxuries, like a fridge], there's no air condtioning, the TV is black and white and gets no reception and to shower you need to pour buckets of water over yourself. Needless to say, I now have a lot of misquito bites, but it was an experience.

This morning we woke up at 5am to get ready to go to the Wat. We packed the truck with all the drink supplies and Kate/Klao's Khun Paw [Dad] and little sister arrived in their truck, equipped with their dog that hates me. The dog stayed at the house and we sat on the tail of the pick-up truck to get ice. More cows wandered by, oh how I love the cows.
Once we arrived at the Wat, we set up our drink station and bought Chinese doughnuts. I have now found something MORE fattening than toast with butter, condensed milk and sugar - doughnuts covered in condensed milk. But it's delicious, so I don't even care. The iced coffee was also delicious; it's ancient Thai coffee mixed with condensed milk, and then evaporated milk poured on top. SOOOOOOO yummy, especially when you dip condensed milk covered doughnuts in it - I'm going to get fat.

We organized our merit bowls and then got in the line to give our food to the monks, and there were a lot of them! Klao and I shared a bowl of creme puff desserts and sticky rice - apparently since we were sharing we will meet each other in our next life. After giving the monks our food we handed out free drinks to everyone [and ate a lot too] until there was none left - then we went to the service. We prayed for a long time, we donated money and then all the money that the Wat had recieved was counted. The monks live at the temple and have nothing except for what they are given; they don't eat anything unless they are given food. So, there was a big table with mats and buckets and gifts for the monks as well as the people walking around collecting money and food.

After praying some more we went to feed the fish in the river nearby. The river was home to the cutest turtles ever [if turtles can be considered cute] and fish the size of a human. I would be lying to say I wasn't a little scared, but I had a massive urge to go swimming with them. There are so many animals at the temple! It turns out, that lots of people get "bored" of their animals and so they give them to the temple. The Wat is now home to two monkeys, three birds, a bunch of chickens [I'm assuming those just wandered in on their own accord], many cats, a golden retriever puppy named "Cornai" and another litter of puppies that were born just a few days ago in a garbage can in one of the monk's houses. It made me sad to see the birds and monkeys locked up, and frusterated me that their owners just didn't want them anymore.

We returned to the Wat after wandering the grounds and Ruang Paw [the head monk] was throwing money wrapped in ribbons around the room. Everyone was scrambling to catch them, but he HANDED me a handful of them... HANDED THEM STRAIGHT TO ME!!!! [For everyone who doesn't understand this significance - that is something monks DON'T do. They are not allowed to touch women and they NEVER hand anything to a woman, they put it on a surface nearby and you pick it up. So that, my friends, is the coolest thing since sliced bread]. Meanwhile everyone was running around taking things that were tied to the poles in the hall - coconuts, sugar cane, banana bunches, decorations etc. We ended up with two coconuts and I got hummingbirds made out of palm leaves.

Then we were off to the waterfalls in Ban Paeng, and they were beautiful. Again, even just the ride up the mountain pass and through the fields and villages was enough to confirm my adoration for Thailand - but the waterfalls were beautiful! Neither had very much water because it is now the dry season, but there was enough for them to still make me fall in love with them. I definetely will be going back, even if I have to take the bus all the way out into the villages. The first waterfall was short but opened up into a giant pool where I went swimming [in my jeans and tshirt]. The pool is usually much bigger in the rainy season so the land area was covered with giant tree roots and rocks - it was gorgeous. The second waterfall was much bigger, it was set on the side of the mountain face with huge rocks along the bottom and a small stream. We climbed up through the forest on the mountain to the top and it was just as beautiful at the top as it was at the bottom. The view was spectacular.

When we returned to the Wat we went to go see Ruang Paw and pay our respects. Instead, we saw a bunch of Thai celebrities who came to the Wat for the special ceremony, as well as visiting Ruang Paw, who the Thai people believe has Cosmic Power and can perform magic. I also happened to see the most gorgeous Thai man I've seen yet. He smiled at me a lot, it made me happy - to think, a Thai celebrity SMILED at me. OOOOOOOH it was a good day. We got to watch him have this really special ceremony with Ruang Paw and his girlfriend [oh yes, I was very sad when I found out]. This is how it went step by step:

1. Ruang Paw wrote on his scalp, rubbed oil over top and blew on it
2. Ruang Paw wrote on his chest, rubbed oil over top and blew on it
3. Ruang Paw put gold on his chest and forehead, put oil over top and rubbed it until the gold went into his skin - they believe that by doing this, Ruang Paw is putting gold into your body and giving you good luck.
4. Ruang Paw sprayed special perfume on his scalp, put his hand on it and blew on it.
5. Then, his girlfriend came over and he put gold on her forehead, rubbed it in and Ruang Paw blew on it [He had to help out Ruang Paw because monks can't touch women].
6. Ruang Paw put gold on his palms and rubbed it in.
7. He put gold on her palms and rubbed it in.
8. Ruang Paw wrote on her arms [not touching her] and then the boy rubbed in the oil to wash away writing].

I believe the girl had more done to her, but then we were distracted because the boy was getting something else done by the other monks - getting silver inserted into his arm. It was quite disturbing, but mesmerizing at the same time. Kate/Klao's mother has silver in her arm, Buddhists believe that it will make them rich. They pulled the skin from around his biceps and pushed a pin through it, then inserted a ball of silver. They asked me if I would like to do that too, and I did, but not today - I will do it before I leave though, I am determined. Then, we had to go because the rest of the celebrities needed to hurry back to Bangkok - Ruang Paw gave me special stones to protect myself and handed them straight to me AGAIN! All I can say is, wow.

To top off the amazing weekend, when I returned home I found my host mother singing Kareoke VERY loudly by herself. My host family is hilarious - I love them.

"Love, I need somebody"