PC383 Phatthalung, Thailand 2007

Fri - Phatthalung A town off the tourist map .. Rice paddy flat area with limestone rock outcrops .. View of Phatthalung Seems like a forgotten holy city. Lunch, hotel walk around, went to visit Kao Ok Thalu (window rock outcrop) met nuns working who invited me to visit their monastery. (One an English teacher called Su - Chow- Adee). For 15 years they have been turning a hidden garden into a meditation retreat. The Bell Tower View from the tower monk Sha & a view The visitors hall they are building Treat founder as a God - bit strange to see a woman who is much older than him .. approach on knees, bow fully down 3 times etc. 15 nuns, 12 monks. Sha the monk Me eating millet porridge Another monk Sha speaks good English. He was a Tsunami survivor hence his change in lifestyle. The monks live in a series of self built treehouses as they try to live with nature, but Sha explained they have to build some concrete buildings cos that's what the government likes or they'll face trouble . So spend a lot of time doing this. They have built a ropeway rightover the mount to bring cement bags for construction of a guest hall. The nuns live the other side near a kitchen .. All are supposed to be celibate. Weird. It's all bumkum to me about getting good luck and magic. They invited me to stay, but I said I'd come back for breakfast. They hope to get some foreigners to stay : address : Wat wang suk kati tam, kao ok thalu Rain - walked around - passed a seedy bar street- I guess every Thai town has one.

Sat- cave Temple Went to visit the towns Wat where there is a sacred cave temple Cave 1 Here is a video of the bigger cave temple crammed with Buddas Sat- Back at the secret Monastry Went back to climb the path back to Monastery for breakfast. The monks eat first. I asked if they grew all their food there. Actually there's loads of food cos every day the monks do their begging-run so there's meat, fried chicken food in packets etc. Eating Breakfast with the nuns Eating Breakfast with the nuns Some nuns /monks don't have shaved heads as they are only visiting for 2 weeks. They were very kind & one should be respectful, but for me it's just as ridiculous as all other religions. I showed them how to do cardtricks to show them all that seems to be magic isn't really magic at all. After that I saw their photo albums which seem to show with the power of meditation you can walk on hot coals. Wow !Scientists have proved anyone can do this meditation or not . washupv view It wasn't my scene so I didn't stay. Sat- Climbed to Window Rock I walked all the wat down then back up the path to Window Rock The Rock View back the town through the window I took a motorbike taxi to the lake beach : the driver ripped me off should have asked the price first. OK but had to get back to hotel .

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