Visa Run in Thailand

Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 1:41 am  
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Wat Rong Khun, ThailandWhen you live in Thailand for extended periods of time, most visa types require you to leave the country on a regular basis in order to get a new stamp in your passport. The closest border to Chiang Mai, where I live, is the Burmese border in the very north of Thailand. I have to cross this border every three months to stay current. It is an easy day trip by luxury bus or a multi-day fun excursion on a motorcycle, which is the option I chose this time. Read the rest of this entry

What do Pencils have to do with Buddhism?

Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 11:38 pm  
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Here is a beautiful little story which I found today. It inspired me and so I want to share it. At first glance it does not seem to have to do anything with Thailand or Thai massage since the story is clearly of western origin. But at second glance it shows that the Buddhist principles of  kindness, going within,  karma, and dealing with adversity are totally expressed in this story.
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Here in Chiang Mai several temples have regular “monk chats”. The monk is available to answer questions or tells stories or just teaches about Buddhist concepts. Anyone can attend, and some of those chats are held by English speaking monks for the benefit of the westerners.  The monk with his shaved head and orange robe might look more exotic than the western grandma in the story below, but they talk about the same things, just in different words. Read the rest of this entry