Chilling with the Monks

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I am definitely turning into my Dad. I am wearing sensible long trousers of the type which zip off at the knees, purchased from Aldi. I have an old shirt of Kit’s which I wear over my top, with the collar up, during the heat of the day, for the avoidance of sunburn. Combined with a fetching hat purchased from the market, this is a great look.

Flashbacks to my childhood.

"Dad why are you dressed like that, you look ridiculous"
"You’ll feel cooler if you wear more, to keep the sun off"
"It most certainly will not be cooler in any way"

So it is official, I am now old. Far cry from my last trip to South East Asia four years ago, when I cut my ankle on a glass tripping over my own dress trying to climb onto a table in a Thai beach bar. Still got the scar. Good times.

I spent most of Saturday chilling with some monks. I had thought Buddhist monks weren’t permitted to talk to women, which is why I didn’t include them in my study design, but apparently they’re not that arsed. I was looking around the Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh, minding my own business, when two of them came over for a chat. Like everyone else, they just wanted to practise their English. I feel really lucky that they approached me, because in my experience they do usually keep themselves very much to themselves. Maybe it was my totally non-threatening appearance (oversized man’s shirt, etc) or the fact that I was on my own. For whatever reason, I ended up getting a guided tour around the whole site, courtesy of my new monk buddies. This earned me some weird looks from the other tourists.

The one who spoke the best English, whose name sounds a lot like mine (Jennay or Jennai) told me he’d been a monk for 10 years, since he was 16. In two years time, he is going to leave and return to normal life. I’m not sure what the term for it is. He wants to be a teacher. He lives in Phnom Penh, his friend was visiting from the countryside. They are both originally from the same small village near the Laotian border, where a lot of boys from poor families join the pagoda to get a good education. Some boys become monks as young as 9 years old (which is why you see ‘tiny monks’, or so he told me). We actually had a really interesting discussion, which touched on such issues as freedom of religion and gender equality. He made a point of telling me that most of Cambodia is Buddhist but there are a lot of other religions too and people are allowed to be any religion they like, though he disapproves of the fortune tellers because they ''lead people down the wrong path'. He also told me that a lot of Cambodian women don't care about getting an education, they just want to find a husband to look after them, but this is starting to change which he believes is a good thing. So a fairly liberal monk, then. He was most impressed that in England women are as educated as men and can be doctors. He did briefly mention that it was very unusual for a monk to be seen walking with a woman, but he didn’t seem particularly bothered.

After my monk guided tour, I went back with them to Watt Oolom, where the more talkative one lives. This is supposedly, according to my guidebook, the headquarters of Buddhism in Cambodia. They showed me around. The Watt consists of more than just the pagoda (or temple). There was a whole community living behind the walls, including plenty of women and children. One lady was introduced to me as a cook, so I suppose they have staff and their families living back there. Because it was the weekend, a Saturday, there were crowds of local residents gathered around the courtyards, listening to Buddhist teachings broadcast though loudspeakers. I was taken back to the building where they live, which was not dissimilar to a student halls type arrangement, and introduced to their monk buddies.

Everyone was DELIGHTED to have an English person to chat to. I sat on the prayer mat in front of the little alter in their dining room. They got their English textbooks out. They wanted to know what some words mean, how to pronounce them. One of the words was 'pedagogical'. I was forced to admit that I had literally no idea. Their disappointment was obvious. I reassured them that there was no situation in which they would EVER need to know this word.

They then wanted to know whether they were speaking American English or English English, because they weren't sure. I asked some questions (pavement? sidewalk? elevator? lift?) and ascertained that it was indeed proper English they were being taught.

We got talking about colloquialisms and slang. I was then faced with the difficult task of explaining to a Buddhist Monk what the terms 'shit' and 'fuck' mean. He'd heard them in American films, apparently. I dodged the issue by explaining about swearing, and warned that real people don’t talk like American films. He nodded sagely and agreed that yes, he finds it hard to understand ‘the gangsters’. I sympathise.

I never knew that Buddhist monks had DVD players. Or mobile phones.

If you are in Phnom Penh and want to make friends with some monks, go to Wat Onolong, the entrance round the back off Street 13. Stand around looking friendly. Many of them are studying English and want to practice. Learn the definition of Pedagogical. It will make their day.

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