On my mindfulness journey – my first day in Thailand began. I have arrived in Khao Lak. The house was exactly what I expected. It was away from the village, and it was very quiet.
It is funny how things play on. For all my “getting out of the rush,” the first thing here was to get Sim card and internet. The very first day, in the first two hours of my new life.
The food
But after this small disappointment, I went to have a proper Thai meal and felt better. The rest of the week I spent settling and getting to know the basics, like where to buy stuff, how to enter their homes and shops barefoot, how hot it is. I also learned very quickly that the concept of rain is quite different than in Serbia. It can rain at any moment, from the clear sky.
Also, when it rains, it pours. But, half an hour later, everything is dry. And if you get wet, this is not a problem, because even the rain is warm, and you will get dry in no time.
The beach
I even went to the beach! For me, this is no obvious way to spend your free time, but it will be bizarre to come here and not to swim in the sea. Andaman sea has an average temperature of 29 degrees Celsius. So, basically, you don’t even notice when you are in the water. The weather here is hot and humid, so there is no significant difference.
Thai massage
And of course, Thai massage is something else. I think for myself that I am a guy who prefers to live modestly, only with necessary commodities, and not to indulge myself too much. I learned that this is not entirely true. I like to go to the massages, and I want to have a nice phone, fast internet, a new scooter. But I am not addicted to fancy restaurants or expensive clothes.
Everyday life
Anyway, here you really don’t need many wardrobes, no shoes, no boots. And for the food, later, I confirmed what I had suspected earlier. The best meals are in quite simple and moderately priced restaurants. It was not surprising for me, because I find that this is true also in Serbia.
I started to live a healthy life, exercise, do yoga, meditate, but I still kept some bad habits. I drink Cola even today. I don’t have TV /I did not have TV even in the last three years in Serbia), but that not stopped me from spending hours and hours on youtube.
What has changed
So, I am just a regular guy, maybe with some more courage to change things in my life. I must be honest and say that the fact I did not have family, kids, or parents, was one of the things that enabled me to take this step. It is unlikely that in different circumstances, I will be able to go.
After only two months here, I knew that this is it. I started to make this house here as my home. I bought the motorcycle and sold the beautiful car that I left in Serbia. I knew that I would spend many years here.
Getting to know Thai people
On my mindfulness journey – my first day in Thailand, I started to learn just how much Thai people are different from us. Not better or worse, just different. An utterly different view on most life facts and one interesting calm posture. They are almost all here, Buddhist, and Buddhism is unofficially official religion here. The influence of monks on people’s everyday life and also on politics are quite substantial.
Thai people mostly eat out. They frequently eat “street food,” which is one of the trademarks of Thaičland.
But, many Thai women will get up early in the morning and prepare food for monks who are going every morning through the village and get the food from the people in exchange for some Buddhist chants. Those same women eat out.
There is a lot to learn
There was a lot to learn about this country, above all the language and the grammar and letters. The Thai language has 44 consonants and 18 vowels. But no interpunction signs or even spaces between words.
This was my mindfulness journey – my first day in Thailand. Next time I will tell you more about some everyday things that are essential for living here and how I started to connect with the calmness people here have.
I hope these tales will help some of you to embark on the mindfulness journey of your own.
If you want to know more
If you want to learn more about things I write about, check out my books. See also what the goal of this web site is. You can check out my other post about mindfulness, and share your thoughts and comments.
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