Hello fellow steemians !

This is my first article on Steemit, and as an introduction to who I am, I decided to share with you a profound experience that I lived last year.

How I ended up in a buddhist temple

Raised by two doctors that mainly believed in science, I cannot say my childhood was filled with spirituality. It always felt like something was missing in my life. For a long time, I had that dream of traveling alone around south-east Asia, led by the intuition that I would there be able to find some answers to my deepest metaphysical questions. Life has taught me that when you are seeking for something, you will always find it.

In 2016, I was working at a place where the bosses had no compunction in squeezing all the juice out of their workers. At some point, I had to say stop and took the big step. And I quit.

I wanted to travel for several months, in order to take some distance from the western world and to have enough time to integrate a community. I wished to really participate in the local life and help around. I had been to south-east Asia many times before, but only for holidays. This time, I wanted to take another step into knowing these countries I loved so much.

I had looked at different projects online before leaving, but it's so hard to tell what associations are legit when you are behind your screen, so I decided to go with the flow and see what would come to me once I was there. And I haven't been disappointed.

The morning prayer temple

In December 2016, I left Switzerland and in February 2017, I was in Chiang Mai, where I met a lovely german lady who had recently visited Wat Ahong Silawas. She told me about her intense and beautiful experience there, and I could see the sparkles in her eyes as she was speaking about the temple and the people she met there. She was such a kind, genuine and simple person that I felt I could trust her words.

She told me that I would be welcome to stay there and help around, and it seems it was a perfect opportunity to get closer to both of my goals for this trip : developing my spirituality and being part of a local community.

So I decided to go and see this place for myself.

Some words about the temple

Located in the Isaan region of Thailand, by the Mekong river that defines the border with Laos, Wat Ahong Silawad is pretty famous, mainly amongst thai people, because the rocks at the bottom of the river create some whirlpools during the rainy season. Thai buddhists believe that the spirit of the Nâga (the divine multi-headed serpent) lives in the river, and that this place, which is also the deepest part of the river, is the gate to his palace.

View of the Mekong from Ban Ahong

The headmonk who built the temple, Luang Por Saman, recognised the place as sacred ground and put up one of his many temples there. When he got there with his « monks team », there was only jungle. They started clearing the jungle and they found a bunch of huge dark-red rocks. Then they were even more convinced they had chosen the right place.

The temple encompasses three prayer buildings, one « sala » where the temple community gathers to eat toghether in the morning and the monks' kutis (their little huts where they sleep). It is all located in a park with the big rocks mentioned above.

The park of Ahong temple

There is also a guesthouse, that was built especially for people who want to come to rest or enjoy the peaceful atmosphere. It is fully part of the temple so the rooms are very simple, without TV's, and it's prohibited to drink alcohol. The beds are also quite hard, so they are suitable for the people who live under the 8 precepts (not killing – not stealing – no sexual misconduct – not telling lies – no intoxicants – not eating after noon – not listening to music and not wearing finery – not lying on a high or luxiurous bed).

The temple guesthouse

The temple has also several kitchen, where all the meals for the community are prepared. There is a small garden as well, where the monks grow a few vegetables.

Stay put, part II is coming soon

There is so much to say about this temple and about my experience there, so I preferred to divide it into different post.

That was the first part, hope you enjoyed it, stay put for part II.

Have a beautiful day ! !