Suan Mokkh Monastery Retreat, Days 2-10 The schedule was virtually the same every day, however each day was also different. Day 2 you were given bananas with breakfast, and your new friend Sabine handed you a beautiful yellow flower in passing. And you got to go shopping! 2 rolls of toilet paper and a tiny package of laundry detergent from the little dining room store so you can wash your clothes in a basin. Since you can’t talk, you just...

Suan Mokkh Monastery Retreat, Day 1 Imagine waking up to the sound of a bell at 4am, not a jarring bell, but a beautiful melodic one, gentle but insistent. You wonder where you are. Your wooden pillow & straw mat in a cement room are good reminders that you are at Suan Mokkh Monastery in southern Thailand. You shine your flashlight out of your white veil of mosquito netting, scanning the floor for spiders before you set foot on the cool...

Heading to Hua Hin, in Southern Thailand… After traveling in English speaking countries, it can be a bit of culture shock to find yourself in a huge airport in Bangkok, where you don’t understand most of the conversations around you! But never fear, Thailand is exotic but also very tourist friendly, and many people speak at least some English, especially those in tourist-related jobs. The kind young clerk at the money exchange wrote...