Last Wednesday was the temple stay which was a very weird and interesting experience! Once we arrived at the temple we had to put on a white shirt and white trousers, and then we were shown our rooms.......... The room i slept in was a completely empty, marble cell! Absolutely no comforts whatsoever, i slept on a straw mat using my rucksack as a pillow! i'll admit i wasn't expecting luxury but this was just bizarre!

Having seen our rooms and what we had to wear for that evening and the following day, i felt closer to an asylum then to Lord Buddah! Alas the evening went on and we joined in with the monks evening chanting and medetation which was very interesting and supprisingly hard!

Bedtime was early that night, however unsupprisingly sleep did not come easily. Having caught a couple of hours shut eye, we were up again at 4:45am to do more chanting and more meditation. Just before sunrise we headed off down the road and into the local village to collect breakfast. Monks aren't allowed to buy anything for themselves so breakfast is food donations from the inhabitants ofthe village. As we walked down the road people started popping out of their little houses with bowls of rice and food.

Gradually the baskets we were holding to collect the food in for the monks were getting full, and then the trolley appeared!!The food was put onto the trolley until it was absolutley heaving and we had to head back to the temple.

At the temple the food was arranged on the long table and individually blessed.(tedious stuff!) Then the best part,We got to try all the food on the table, it was like a huge Thai buffet! All the food was of course home cooked by the local people and was absolutely delicious! ( Talk about the best way to try Thai food!)

Overall the temple stay was a very unusual experience and definitley one i won't forget!