From the Lily Pad to the Sea

Our group endured the brutal 15 hour plane ride with turbulence, a 3 hour layover in Hong Kong, followed by a 2 hour plane ride, then a 2 hour bus ride to gratefully arrive at the idyllic Wongsanit Ashram on the far outskirts of Bangkok. The Ashram has made for a perfect landing to Thailand: clean and spacious meditation halls provide prime space for our orientation meetings, while rain on the metal roofs and the symphony of geckos, frogs, and toads in the lilypad-filled ponds below our trees houses make rest and relaxation come naturally. Best of all, the staff at the ashram have provided us with more than sustenance for our long days of orientation. The kitchen food arrangements are ones that could make the cover of a Conde Naste Traveler Magazine: Tom Yam soup with fresh caught seafood, homemade rice noodles, garden-harvested vegetable salads, pad thai and glass noodle salads, fried fish, mangos, mangosteen and rambutans. We suggested to skip the rest of the itinerary to stay at the ashram and eat, but alas, adventure, service, and tuk-tuks await....Tomorrow we depart for Bangkok and the Mokken Sea Village with high spirits and healthy bodies.