Dear Friends, the following information is about the practice of living in the monastery. Please read it mindfully so you can be well-prepared to gain most of the retreat's happiness and benefits.
Accommodation
All rooms at the Monastery are organized in a community style. You will practice living in the same room with other practitioners to support each other in practice easily. Male and female practitioners will be arranged in separate areas. Male practitioners will stay at the laymen's guest house, next to the brother Hamlet. The female practitioners will stay at the lay women's guest house next to the sister hamlet. On the female lay friend's side, each room will have 4 bunk beds (for 8 people); on the male lay friend’s side, each room will have 8 bunk beds (for 16 people). There are no dedicated family rooms.
A mattress, pillow, mosquito net, and blanket will be provided to you on the day of arrival. You are also encouraged to bring a personal sleeping bag for comfortable night's stays and to allow the monastery to reduce electricity and water usage for laundry, thereby protecting our environment from harmful chemicals and carbon emissions. Please be aware that there will be no air conditioning and hairdryer (for female lay friends) in guest houses. However, with an environment surrounded by mountains, hills, and green trees, you can enjoy open space and fresh air.
Due to limited accommodation, tents are used as accommodation in the retreats, if needed.
Female Dormitory
Male Dormitory
Food
All food at the Monastery will be served vegetarian. It is unfeasible for the Monastery to provide a special diet and medications for an individual's needs. Therefore, please bring your medications or supplements if necessary (only vegetarian-based food and supplements are allowed).
Clothes
We request you wear non-revealing clothing at all times: long or short sleeve shirts covering the upper body and pants, shorts, or dresses, that are roughly knee-length.
A white costume is not required.
What to Bring
Passport.
Toothbrush, toothpaste, shower gel, towel.
Mosquito repellant, sunscreen.
Flashlight and water bottle.
Hat, umbrella or raincoat.
Warm Clothes (coat/jacket).
Socks and woolly hats for the cool season (Nov to Feb).
Comfortable shoes/sandals to support walking meditation.
Your medicines or supplements as necessary.
Earphones (or headphones) (3.5mm) to listen to the translation.
You can bring running sneakers, soccer shoes, table tennis rackets, badminton rackets, etc. to play during sports time.
Making Donation
The Monastery is a non-profit practice center. All activities are therefore donation-based only. We look forward to your support while you stay in the Monastery. The estimated expense, including food and accommodation for the Weekly Retreat, is 1000 Thai Baht per person per night.
Your donation will support the Monastery to cover the monastics’ daily expenses like food, electricity, water, and health care. Donations can be made in Thai Baht at our Registration Office.
Other important information
If the retreat is unable to take place for whatever reason, the monastery will not refund your flight ticket. The monastery will notify you via email of the retreat's cancellation.
Please note: Thai Plum Village Practice Center is a non-profit organization without any support from commercial establishments. The funding is provided solely by donations from those with kind hearts. Therefore, should you develop any health problems or personal issues (including the case of being infected by Covid-19) that require treatment during your practice and stay in Thailand, please be aware that you will be fully responsible for any expenses incurred.
Please do not bring your pet.
The monastery requests that you not leave your vehicles outside the monastery during the retreat days in order to collaborate in reducing emissions to conserve the Blue Planet and provide energy support for the practice sessions.
As a Buddhist monastery, the internet is unavailable, so please arrange everything before coming to practice at the monastery.
You can consider purchasing travel insurance before traveling abroad (to protect your benefits in the event that you require medical assistance abroad, you can purchase travel insurance packages at a low cost - these packages cover general medical treatment while in Thailand).
Thai Plum Village on Google Maps: Click Here
If you have any further questions regarding attending retreats or other Monastery events, please email us at visitus@thaiplumvillage.org.
Thai Plum Village Registration Office
Breathe and Smile