The day started off by my usual trip to the bathroom before morning chanting. Little did I know, thousands of tiny, vicious ants covered the sidewalk in front of the bathroom stalls. When I opened the door, I felt painful prickles all over my ankles and feet. I looked down to find at least 30 ants on each leg! I quickly rushed to the shower stall and ran water over my feet. We cannot kill any living beings here, but I did not know what else to do and I figured these resilient ants could probably survive in water.
Scene of the ant attack
After chanting, we had a surprise alms round. At least no one told me about it...everyone else probably knew. We went on the route that I missed last time, so I got to see more of the surrounding area. The push-cart did not fit on the highway, so the layperson wheeled it on a lane in the highway. It did not seem so safe, but the cars made sure to avoid us and the bhikkunis. We encountered 3 monks collecting alms along the route as well. I did not know where they came from, but they must come from another wat nearby.
The alum hired a driver to get me from Nakhon Pathom at 8:30 am, but unfortunately he arrived at 9:30 because of traffic. I slept on the way to Bangkok since I did not get as much sleep as I normally get. You know you're in a rural area when a frog's mating call wakes you up at 2 in the morning.
First, the alum, his friend, and I went to the Emporium, a mall in Bangkok with a nice market and some higher end stores, like Prada. My face lit up when I saw the Cinnabon sign and I could not resist getting a cinnamon bun and mocha drink. I went through most of the aisles in the market and found lots of snacks to keep me going at the monastery.
Entrance to the Emporium
Some items were a bit pricey, so we went to Big C's, a supermarket like a Thai Walmart. We spent more time there than I wanted to, so we did not have time for any touristy locations. Instead, we went to a pizza restaurant called Scoozi's. I ordered a garden salad, margarita pizza, and fettuccine alfredo for us to all share. It still did not taste quite as good as pizza from America (or Italy I am sure), but the meal was just what I needed. We also ordered gelato; I thoroughly enjoyed my ferrero rocher cup.
Scoozi's
View of Bangkok on the ride back
Then it started pouring...this is an example of what some bridges look like here.
Even though I left at 4:30 pm, the traffic and quick stop at 7-eleven for yogurt made me late for evening chanting. I got lost again because they used a different chant book. We went to the Medicine Buddha and did our 108 chants.
When I finally returned to my room, I set up the new fan and put my food away. It felt like the first few days of college - organizing my new stuff so that everything had a place to go. I realized on the ride back, I felt like I was returning home from a day in the city. I wanted to leave the walls of the wat so badly in the beginning, but I realized today that I really did enjoy spending time in the wat. I liked the routine (even the waking up early) and the people here. It made me happy to know that I was finally settling in to life here.
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