Rebirth

Today was a holiday because of Vesak Day, a Buddhist celebration to commemorate Buddha’s birth, enlightenment (nirvāna), and death (Parinirvāna). 

I got up early and by seven I was out of the door, yoga mat on shoulder. I rode my new bike, which is as smooth as butter on the road, to Monkey Hill. On the hike up several people “sawadeed” me with smiles. It seemed like everyone was in good spirits.

While I was practicing on the wooden stage that is on the last viewpoint of the hill, a group of women gathered around me. They looked like they belonged to a walking club. The only things that I understood from the conversation were “yoga” and “falang”. They bought water bottles from a small bamboo shack and one of them came to me and handed me one. That beautiful gesture made me feel so welcomed!

A few minutes later a monkey came by and, without hesitation, grabbed my water bottle, took the tap off with his teeth, and started jugging it. It was almost funny, except that this was not the first time I got mugged by a monkey. One time at Rang Hill a monkey emptied the contents of my bag and took what he found interesting. What made me really annoyed was that he spilled the rest of the water on the ground.

Naughty monkeys

 For the first time in weeks, though, I was too happy to stay angry with the monkey. I had woken up without a stomach pain and barely any pain in my soul. And it was sunny for the first time in a long time. Walking down the hill I felt an unreasonable joy. Time for rebirth!