The Funeral

We arrived at the funeral which was so full of visitors that we had to park outside and walk all the way back to the temple. It was the most beautiful temple I have seen since my arrival and I took lots of pictures. We were greeted by the family and then walked in and took a seat. After this the monk started praying and then had a teaching and then another exchange student rescued me from the last hour of praying. It is her host grandma who died. It was a lot of fun to see a Buddhist funeral as well as talk to another YE (Youth Exchange). A little bit about Thai funerals. One the person has died if they live in a village the family keeps the body in a casket in the house for either 3,5,7or 9 days. During this time every night one monk comes to pray and give a teaching until the last day which is when they go to the grave site and have the proper burial. In a big city like Chiang Mai the casket is at the temple not a house so this is where we went last night. It's tradition that the family of the deceased has to feed everyone a meal that comes to visit every night. A family can go through 50 kilos of rice a night. But traditionally if it is held at a temple they just serve drinks and snacks. The YE's host mother who owns a coffee shop supplied iced coffee drinks and they were amazing. The only coffee I've seen is instant coffee and this was real espresso. It was fun to talk to Brittany and another Thai girl who is 24 but looks 12. A great night and I took lots of pictures to put up once school starts again.