angelauoo

First off...I am very excited! I have never went to southeast Asia before! A little on my background for the voyage...I am travelling throughout Thailand for 30 days--arriving on 2013 Dec 12 in Bangkok. I will be travelling alone with a budget of roughly 300USD - 500USD (~9500 - 15500 Baht)--this excludes situations like health emergencies and etcetera.

My real motivation for going is to study and live in monasteries--short term stay (so more for lay people). I do not know Thai to any tangible fluency so I would need to stay in a temple that has at least one teacher who knows some English. However, I also do not want to go to temples that really cater to mostly English speakers--I hope that makes sense!

I would like to know if any of you have any suggested temples to go to? In addition, do you believe many of them need to be contacted in advance to go to (either by writing or telephone)? I have never stayed in monasteries in Asia although I have been to several thanks to my home country of Korea.

Any advice is wonderful and welcomed!

Hanuman

Where are you from and are you a Buddhist?

thursdaysd

You have a "budget" of $10-$16/day? Seriously? And which is it? Even Lonely Planet thinks you need at least $19/day, and that's outside Bangkok and not including long distance transport.

angelauoo

Hanuman: I am originally from South Korea, but I live in the United States now. I am Buddhist.

thursdaysd: I do understand that this is small, however, I think your budget depends on what you want to do in a country. I know that some temples in East and South Asia, one can stay for less than 10 USD a night with food and accommodation, even as a layperson (or someone not studying). However, I know it is not always accurate to assume that this is the case, so that is why I am asking for peoples' input on temples in Thailand.

jobin

Certainly December is the 'high tourist season' in north Thailand and Chiang Mai will be flooded with westerners. All that means high prices. I know nothing of monastery lodging in T'land. Transportation will cost plenty. US$10 per day is 300 baht. Would buy the cheapest restaurant food for one day.

angelauoo

jobin: I do understand that it is a high tourist season. Mid December to mid January does not have any large (for a lack of a better word) Buddhist celebrations/holidays so I am hoping that it might be easier during this time to find available monastery accommodation.

I plan to maybe stay in two or three temples during the majority of my stay--so I would need to account for transportation between them. Could you expand on your transportation costs by train and bus in Thailand?

As far as food goes--I normally eat one meal a day and I do not snack so I hope food will not be too much of a burden.

Hanuman

Just noticed, from your profile picture, that you're a lady angelauoo. This is something you should let people know when asking about temple stay in Thailand.

I highly recommend the Sathira Dhammasathan Centre but it's in Bangkok.

http://www.sdsweb.org/sdsweb/
http://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle...r-bangkok.html

thursdaysd

What kind of Buddhist are you? You are aware that Thailand is a Theravada Buddhist country, right? (Korean Buddhism is a form of Mahayana.)

If you are a practising Buddhist, how come your teacher(s) is of no help in recommending a monastery? I would imagine that you would need to contact a monastery ahead of time, rather than just showing up on the doorstep. And you certainly need to let a monastery know that you are female, you should probably be looking for a nunnery.

Suggest you do some research elsewhere online, including at the Lonely Planet website. A very cusory look there turned up this:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thailand...itation-centre

angelauoo

Hanuman: I have been accumulating a list of temples to contact that take women in. Thank you for your websites and I will look into these recommendations!

thursdaysd: I am aware that the schools are different in Thailand and Korea. I have received input from others on where to stay, but I would like to also get input from other sources (like this forum). I know some temples take males only, females only, and some take both male and female--with them studying/living in different areas. I will look into your website and add these to my list, thank you!

thursdaysd

Googling the Daen Maha place turned up a couple of blogs, with rather different reactions:

http://cari-lee.com/2011/07/10/the-e...tation-centre/

http://tomstravelogue.travellerspoint.com/13/