Daily Archives: January 10, 2010

Daily Life, Laos

Meditating With Monks

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After giving our bodies a good workout with the morning bike ride on Saturday, Megan and I gave our minds a good workout with an afternoon meditation at Wat Sokpaluang.

Although I can barely maneuver the motorbike with just me on it, I nervously drove the two of us the short distance to the temple. We walked around the shady grounds and sat on a bench for a while to listen to the monks chanting.

At 4 p.m., we climbed the steps to the covered deck of a small chapel, where three monks greeted us, and rows of cushions were laid out for visitors to sit facing the little Buddha shrine. About 20 people showed up for the meditation. The leader (a man from India, maybe?) noted that the temple started offering free weekly meditation sessions about 12 years ago for the local expats, but after a mention in the Lonely Planet guidebook, it now serves mostly tourists.

He explained that we would be practicing Vipassana (insight) Meditation. He gave us a silent mantra for the sitting meditation: “Bhu” on the inhale, “dho” on the exhale. We sat for about 20 minutes until he rang a bell, signaling the start of a walking meditation. At that point, we all got up and walked slowly around the chapel building for about 20 minutes, following his instructions for focusing our minds. At the signal, we returned to our cushions for another 20 minutes of seated meditation.

I was surprisingly successful at first. I stuck with the mantra and kept my focus on my breath. Every time a thought popped in to my head, I put it in a little boat and sailed it away. During the walking meditation, I also managed to stay in the moment and only needed a couple little boats to ferry away my invasive thoughts. Then it all fell apart during the final seated meditation. My back hurt from sitting up straight, and my mind wandered incessantly: Where would we go for dinner? I don’t want Megan to leave tomorrow! Don’t judge the two girls wearing next to nothing at the temple meditation. Boy, that coffee gave me the jitters. Ooooh, I can hear some monks chanting in a different temple building. Cool, now they’re banging some gongs. Ha! Every time, they bang the gongs, the neighborhood dogs bark their heads off. Shut up, brain!

So I spent 20 minutes in physical agony while a whole armada played bumper boats in my mind.

Still, I enjoyed the experience and told the leader I hoped to be back.

Here, Megan is relieved to have survived the motorbike ride and is ready to meditate at Sokpaluang Temple.
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Daily Life, Laos

Cycling Sisters

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Now that I’m back in Vientiane, it’s time to get back in the cycling groove. Team Dai is training for a 3-day, 400-kilometer ride to Phonsavan in March. I’m excited that they changed the destination from Luang Prabang (only because now I’ve BEEN to Luang Prabang – see my posts from last week, but I haven’t been to Phonsavan).

My sister Megan is visiting, so I proposed that we join Team Dai’s Saturday training ride. She agreed – with the disclaimer that she’s a runner not a cyclist, and I would have to promise to turn back whenever she got tired. “Sure,” I said. “No problem!”

We lowered the seat on Tony’s bike, and I generously gave up my gel seat cover for Megan’s tender bottom. And off we went. We met the team at the Patuxai Monument at 7 a.m. The route started on a paved road, but really “paved” is such a relative word. In many parts of the world, “paved” means smooth flat asphalt, which is a very nice surface for riding a bike. On this particular road, “paved” meant a hilly path with pockets of tar, pockets of rocks, and pockets of dirt. I can’t believe we didn’t (a) get a flat, or (b) lose any teeth.

About 30 minutes into the ride, Megan said, “I think I’m gonna want to turn back soon.” I ignored her the first few times. Then the team stopped for a pee break, and she said it more forcefully, “I think it’s time to TURN BACK.” So I had to ‘fess up. “Meg, I have no idea how to get home from here,” I said. She was not pleased. My sisterly vibe was sensing a major undercurrent of hate. But she put on a happy face and soldiered on. She’s such a trooper.

Our next rest stop was at a little waterfall. We ate bananas and chatted with the team. The ride organizer, Paul, explained that the hilly part of the ride was over. Then we rode out of the park, turned left and saw a small mountain. Later, Paul said, “Sorry, I forgot about that one!”

Eventually, we reached the Mekong River and followed it back to town. That’s when the pretense of pavement ended. No more pockets of tar; just pockets of rocks and dirt. When we dared to pull our eyes away from the obstacle course of a path, the scenery was gorgeous – rice fields, forests, villages, and all the usual goings on you see in river communities. Every time we rode through a village, children stopped playing to yell out “Sabaidee!” or just stare at the wacky group of “falang” with their fancy bikes and silly helmets.

Eventually, after 3 ½ hours and about 37 miles, we emerged in the middle of Vientiane and headed straight to a café for breakfast. I can’t even describe how much dirt coated our bodies. Meg had a little mud mustache from the sweat mixed with reddish dust, and I looked like I’d just spent a lot of money on bronzing powder. Later, we dragged our battered bodies to Manee Spa (across the street from my house) for a massage, but they were fully booked. We almost cried. Instead, we bought iced coffees from my favorite streetside coffee lady, Saeng, and watched Kung Fu Panda on TV.

For more on this fascinating topic, check out my earlier post on Team Dai and/or the team’s own website.

Megan rarin’ to go at the Patuxai Monument in Vientiane.
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Megan feeling a little less enthusiastic at the waterfall break stop.
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