Monks and Facebook - Khon Kaen.

On a bus from Kon Kaen to Lom Sak... 

"Teacher, do you play Facebook?" - Lom Sak, Petchabun, Thailand.


I pay an extra 200 baht for my bike (6$US, and my own ticket cost 135, 4$US).  I am always excited for the chance to visit Petchabun, one of the most beautiful areas in Thailand, and the nearest mountains to where I live in Maha Sarakam.  I lift my bicycle up through the emergency door in the back of a 2nd Class bus - very convenient door! - and then I move to help the bus attendant hoisting my bike up.  He starts figuring out how best to arrange a bicycle on a bus seat as I walk around, run really for the sake of my bike, to climb the stairs into the bus and hurry down the aisle to make sure my bike isn't being mistreated... 

View looking South near Nam Nao, Petchabun

Strapping it to the far back seat with a bungee cord works well if there is no one sitting in the seat used to wrap the cord... also you can use the overhead rack (but be careful if its an old cord, it could snap and hit someone, it happened to a friend of mine - bad news).

This time however, I find two young monks, quiet but very alert, observing the proceedings.

Monks of course, observe most things quietly, but young novices may have donned their orange robes as recently as the day before, so one can never know what will happen with anyone but the elderly monks.  To be totally honest, any monk in Thailand may do the most unexpected things, but Ill just stick to this story.  One of them looked to be about 16, the other maybe 13.  The younger one is smiling, and looking at me quite a bit, so I smile back. 

The right back corner seat (if you're facing forward) has been broken in every bus I have ever been on, and I would guess that I have this seat on about half of every trip I have ever taken in Thailand.  It has turned from a complete bane of a good trip into something quite humorous.  Thai culture loves conformity, and aside from humor,  they love when things stick to expectation... but man sometimes it's too much, just hilarious the certain regularities that are there to be enjoyed...


Which brings me to the cute part of this story.  Language-wise, a huge "problem," admitted by Thais about Thais, is that they are very meek.  Too afraid to make a mistake, they would rather remain silent than speak out and have someone either correct them, or laugh.  A huge part of language learning obviously requires trial and error, and so... anyways, there are many nice things, and cute stories, that come from this shyness as well.

About 1 hour into the ride, so far, so good (so bumpy), because I had my headphones on, I was able to witness much more than I would have had they suspected I could hear them.  The younger of the two was holding his phone to his ear, not the receiver for phone calls but the speaker end at the bottom, and he was obviously straining to hear - of course I was immediately curious as to what he was listening to.  I always think it funny to see monks with cell phones, let alone smart phones, and one can only guess the kinds of Apps a monk would find useful...  Keep that thought for later though, because I just happened to catch a glimpse of the screen as he played this short clip over and over; the words written were, "see you again."

It would have been cute to wait for us to finish the trip so he could finally wave and say his well-rehearsed line to me, I could have gone on doing my own thing for the remaining 2 hours, but no - I had to break the ice.

I didn't want "see you again" to be the only words exchanged, obviously he didn't speak English very well, and it wouldn't even be a true statement with which he would leave me! (I don't think I will join his forest monastery any time soon.  It turns out they were from a very small town, going to a bigger temple to learn from a famous Ajarn for a few weeks.  So, aside from managing to roll into his home-town, totally at random, I guess I could happen to share a bus with these two again someday?)

So, I just started right into it in Thai, "Hi, where you going? Where's your home? Why are you in a bus?...".
Of course they were startled, but they both definitely wanted to talk.  They were actually full of questions, and awesomely they were not the usual 3 questions that form the intro (or entirety) of 98% of bus conversations I have had in the past 5 years.**

I do not know all the rules that monks live by, but I guess that not speaking loudly is among them (I think there are 227 in all?  Yes, some of them are very specific)***  Novice monks only have to abide by the main 8 (and common people only 5), but they should of course be learning the other 219 soon enough...).  Though we were somewhat alone in the back of the bus, the older novice, sitting on the far side of the younger from me, would ask the younger monk to pass on all of his questions to me.  I would get to hear were question twice, obviously I can hear him being just 18 inches away, but this just made the situation even better.  I didn't say anything.

It's always polite, throughout the world but even more so in Thailand, to let older people speak and act first, and when the older novice finished his questions about life in the USA, the younger novice was obviously ready - he went to town!  I guess he spends his time reading, or at least intensely daydreaming, about doomsday events, he was not going to miss his chance to get the opinion of a foreigner while he had the chance.  Out of the 50 or so questions he must have rattled off, I'll try to remember some to show the variety...

They ranged from a simple, "why does the weather change over a year?," to other things he should have learned in school like, "is the Earth in a galaxy?", and finally a bit more sensational, "is it true that a comet is coming soon to end our world?  When the sun explodes, what will humans do?  Do you believe that the whole earth will be destroyed in a massive chain reaction of global earthquakes?"

I did my best to answer.  I hope he saw this :)




After such discussions, we were quickly approaching the destination.  Oh, by the way, to add more to the scene, as we were talking the bus was climbing into the Nam Nao district of Petchabun.  Beautiful views of green, thickly forested hills going by.  Some very steep hills, and so as we were sitting at the back of the bus, we were bumping shoulders and swaying around the entire time we were talking.  I even had to stop talking a few times to not get too dizzy... The younger novice was intent though, and totally cool, talking just as fast, yet thoughtfully, as he could, not upset by the bus' movements at all :)


The older of the two didn't talk much more, but he was listening the whole time.  His questions all had to do with what it would take to become a professional footballer.  In case you're confused here, yes he would definitely have to leave the monk-hood to become an athlete.  Among many others "rules," monks aren't allowed to run.

I did the best I could to explain quickly about college and pro sports, because the younger novice obviously had more questions waiting.  Nearing the end though, the older boy did give me a final gem when he broke the question..."Teacher Joel, may I have your Facebook please?"  Yes, it has officially invaded every level of every society.  Monks and Facebook.  Did Mark Zuckerberg imagine this situation?  And yes, I did add this novice monk as a friend, I am curious to see if they can, like most of my students here, type in English far, far better than they can speak.

So.
Finally the time came, I got down at Lom Sak bus station, and Nong Ton (the younger monk) asked, "Teacher Joel, will we ever see each other again?"

For many reasons, I didn't know what to say.  I just smiled, bowed, and made my way down to check on my bike.  I really enjoyed the conversation, while funny at times, they really made me practice using some vocab that I rarely get to try out :)  also, their being monks, or studying to be anyways, they had a much longer attention span than most young people I know.  Young people anywhere these days, let alone Thailand!

All in all, an extremely enjoyable bus ride, and I remember specifically that I could not wait to write my mom and tell her about the day's fun times...  Ha.

Cycling on back roads in Thailand usually sees a motorbike every 15 minutes, and one or two
cars per hour.  The trucks drive in massively dangerous and uncaring ways, probably the norm
for any developing country's companies pressuring their drivers to move products at unrealistic
speeds... but at least in the forest I can hear the trucks coming, they could never sneak up...

Nearing the edge of the Nam Nao Forest, I guess this area has been "claimed" by a farmer,
also very common in developing countries - by whatever arrangement it may happen, corrupt
or really just honest misinformation about boundary lines in the rural areas, farmer's will
appropriate National Protected lands for their own benefit...

One of my favorite views yet, this one really stuck in my memory.  It was a blast to rip down
this lightly sanded road here, a perfect and cool breeze coming at me, not a man-made sound
around aside from my bike tires and my own breathing.  A gorgeous day.

-----

(Here I am writing this, on my iPhone, on a bus, again from Kon Kaen but heading South this time to Korat.  I'm alone this time, and the back seat I have been given is, once again, broken and sliding around.  At least I wasn't surprised!  Here's a picture to prove it...)

Back Seat of any 2nd Class bus in Thailand.  Removable, in one sense, Entertaining in another, Worrisome too, but always there.  The guaranteed-to-be-broken back bench seats...

Have a great day!  Leave me some comments below!

*** You can view a list of the 227 precepts here (http://en.dhammadana.org/sangha/vinaya/227.htm)

**the 3 questions being, "Where you come from?," "What's your name?," and, depending on if it's a man or woman, "Do you have a girlfriend?" (Woman asking), or "Do you like Thailand?" (Man asking)...

At any rate, no matter how intrusive or irritating these may seem at first, thats just how adjusting to a new culture goes.  Also, someone practicing Thai will have these 3 or 4 questions/answers solidly in their vocab whether they like it or not!