My world walk - Thailand - 13 - Breakfast with the Buddhist monks.

Breakfast with the Buddhist monks.

One morning I stopped at a grocery store to get my coffee. I continue to spread my cancer awareness message with cards that are translated into Thai. Using Google Translate we  had a nice 'chat'
Walking like this I get a lot of time demands but I always stop to interact with whoever wants to! There was a disabled man there who was making bar-b-q skewers. I sat there talking as best as I could to him and his wife and a curious customer for about a half-hour.
Thank you, my friends, for another nice time. That was a 36-kilometre stroll on yet more wonderful backroads.

It was a hot and humid day and I was thankful to a man called Bank for coming out to say check on me and to offer great assistance. He is the third Facebook follower of the Thai around-the-world motorcyclist that has come out to my route! Many Thais friended me on Facebook when 'Captain Motorcycle 2018' mentioned our meeting in Australia. One day rain came from out of almost nowhere and straight out of a clear blue sky without warning. I got wet but managed to shelter from the worst of it! Within an hour I was dry again. I continue to sleep in Buddhist temples as there is no other possibility in the small villages. I guess I could camp in a field... But I'm more of a sociable person. Breakfast and morning worship is always pretty interesting. Usually, the bell sounds at around five am and the monk's shower by scooping sold water out of large vats of water that mosquitoes hang out of. They do their rounds of the local houses and collect food for the monks time in the temple is a simple, poor but humble existence. In most of there are usually about ten worshipers each morning. I wondered if they were volunteer workers or just worshippers for I have noticed that in some of the temples that some of them also do chores. Breakfast usually consists of rice and various pieces of exotic fruits and vegetables, sardines and small pieces of meat and eggs. All of which is typically placed in a couple of dozen small bowls or saucers. All this is placed in a large mat and the people sit crosslegged and barefooted on the floor.  I never saw anyone drink tea or coffee, they wash it down with water. The custom is to wait for the monks to finish eating before we eat. They eat their breakfast, in the same manner, sitting down on a small stage where the brief service was conducted from.