THANK YOU TO OUR TEACHERS AT WAT PO / CHETAWAN:
Kay
all the amazing teachers (naming only some of the wonderful team):
Somwarn, Nui, Ting, Kay, Ais, Nim,..)
Ting
sharing lunch with everybody
below: a cheap meal at a vegetarian restaurant, frequented by locals
and falang alike (falang = foreigners)
Our humble gratitude goes out to all I met along the journey, and
life would not be the same without the strangers at the side of the
path of my journey. The cows roaming the streets, or being milked
on the sidewalks, the women of all ages, tirelessly and almost always
with grace living their lifetime. Women crouching by the side of the
road to clean kitchen utensils in a washing tin.. We want to thank all we
saw, all who pointed us in the right direction. We learnt much from
witnessing the small things for just moments of your lives. We am
indescribably grateful for having met you all. We treasure the memories.
India is such a challenge, and we didn't enjoy the challenge this time
round, but we appreciate it in retrospect. We can't explain the magic of
India, but no matter what it throws at you it is a place where so, so
much can happen that you could never experience or find in other
places. India is a place that lives intensely. The opportunism of
entrepreneurs often made life so much more difficult than it needed to
be, but still something sounds through that carries magic, even if you
again paid twice the price for something worth a quarter of what you
paid... India is indescribable, and a lot of hard work, or depending on
your vision and approach, India is gentle and full of wisdom you would
do very well to tune your ears to.
Living in Cambodia is not easy, I (Birgit) can not understand how people
find the enthusiasm day after day to continue on such a rocky path.
Perhaps there is more Yoga there than you could imagine? Something
keeps the country alive, and alive with a grace and healthy pride. The
always mentioned trauma of the Khmer Rouge Years remains a primary
source of income for many. Countless amputees will approach you to
help earn a living. Often whole families will depend on your small gift.
But hold a moment, there are also other ways to help, your time is
priceless. Believe me, the difference you can make with passion and
time is immense. Also do take a look at local charities, those change
futures and your donation, however small can go far there.
The man below is a friend of the father of Birgit's long time friend Nakry.
Some may remember my stories about my friend Nakry who, with
tireless positivity makes his way through a very poor life. I would like
to tell you more about this another time. You can also check my other
blog 'over the seven seas' for a little of the story I will rewrite another
time and share here.
Visiting a village, which was devastated by the flooding across the whole
region last autumn / winter (october 2012, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos..)
I shared my polaroid photographs and took with me only the digital photo
leaving behind the physical one. More important than this photograph is
the memory of that afternoon and how this woman welcomed me into
her care for a short hour. Too short. Too few shared words. But more
than enough intuitive understanding from the heart
It was only thanks to Noung that we had the beautiful experience of
meeting the villagers, who lost their rice crops to the flooding. It is
also only because of Noung that Birgit didn't miss the once a year chance
to see a Khmer shadow puppet play, it's less a puppet in the sense
that you might initially think. The scenes from the Ramayana are cut
into leather hides and held against the light as a narrator tells the story,
actors lend their bodies and voices, musicians bring yet more life to
the story. Of course not speaking khmer one is at a disadvantage, but
to see such a performance that would have looked just like this 50, 100
and 150 years ago is priceless. We are grateful to Birgit's german student
Noung for sharing some of Cambodia's treasures with me
What you see below is a floating village on the Tonle Sap lake.
There are many of these villages atop it's surface. This village actually
is not floating but standing on 3-5 meter high stilts. All houses stand
on these stilts to accommodate the dramatic change in water levels
that occurs like this nowhere else in the world that I know of.
The oranges below are priced by the kilo, and 40 Baht are about
equal to $1 / £0.90.
one of our favourite temples in Chiang Mai
Below: leaving chalk in Burma
Jason's postcard photograph of a cat we saw in Burma
Wat Po, the home of Traditional Thai Massage Teaching, the home
of Traditional Thai Medicine. This temple is beautiful, as you walk
among it's countless stupas you feel like as if you are in another time.
Birgit thinks you actually might be. We feel enriched and nourished from having
spent time there. We are so grateful to the school for having given us
so much new knowledge, for having tested especially Birgit's endurance, for always
greeting us with kindness and an open heart. We learnt so much from
things none of the teachers spoke about but all lived by example: Our
teacher's humanity and wisdom spoke volumes without making a sound.
All the temple photographs below are Wat Po in Bangkok. We actually
studied with the small school that they opened in Chiang Mai. Where
we enjoyed the smallness of the city, it's proximity to the mountains/hills
and the relaxed life that never stops. People work so hard, but they have
a way of doing it in an almost effortless and most often joyful way. How
else could the lady working in the market from 8am to 10pm maintain her
friendly smile. And I watch her be just as friendly with strangers..
And below is Manop, Jason's music teacher. We wished he could speak
english better or we could speak some Thai. You see much in his nature
and occasionally he would tell us things about his life, but sadly we could
never have a continuous conversation with him. The language barrier was
too great. What we do know is that he is generous and made it possible for
us to stay together much longer than we could have if we hadn't had his great
offer of a room. twice!
