Another Day with a Monk

On Thursday of this week we had another field trip with my Southeast Asian History class. First we visited the Wat Jedyod Royal Temple. This was a beautiful temple and my favorite part was the large bodi tree that had its limbs supported by gold and white poles. These poles are replaced every year, and represent how everything is dependent on each other, and also how one thing, the tree in this case, is supported by many different aspects. You were able to write on the poles, so I wrote the names of some family members and loved ones. 

After the temple we visited the Chiang Mai National Museum, where we learned more about the history of Thailand and how Chiang Mai was founded. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take photos inside the museum. 

After the museum, Tammy, Emily and I went to Wat Suan Dok, where we met up with Lat, the Buddhist monk from Laos that we had spoken with before. We spoke with him for about an hour, continuing to exchange information about our lives and our interests. He told us that he will be graduating from Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (try and say that 3 times fast...once is hard enough) next month. MCU for short, is one of two public Buddhist universities in Thailand that offers classes in English and Buddhist studies for monks. Lat is studying English and will be de-robing after graduation. He says that he will spend a week in Chiang Mai before returning to Lao where he wants to become a tour guide. We told him that we would hang out with him after graduation, and maybe bring him to the jazz club or go bowling. He is very friendly and his happiness radiates off of him. 

hey mom-check out all these cairns

some funny English words being taught to the monks

our new friend, Lat