here were a total of a hundred monastics -- fifty monks and fifty nuns -- and ninty members in the delegation accompanying thay. the monastics and delegates come from various countries -- vietnam, france, italy, sweden, germany, usa, belgium, switzerland, malaysia, russia, united kingdom etc. on top of that, the number of local devotees is huge. every dharma talk is a crowd gathering.

Plum village was set up in the 1960s after thay was forbidded to return to vietnam (after he went to call for peace) and sought refuge in france. thay's teachings emphasize on mindfulness and living fully in the present moment. in one of his talks, he said that everything he taught was about living mindfully in the present moment. at the start of every dharma talk, there would be chanting by the monastics -- monks on the right, nuns on the left. the chanting is beautiful with a new-age feeling. the chants in vietnamese and english are often rotated; sometimes the chant on the three refuges, sometimes on evoking the name of avalokiteshvara, sometimes an english "may the day be well". a monk or a nun would be assigned as the bell master. after a part of speech given by thay, the bell master would strike the bell three times. this is the time when one's attention goes back to his/her breathing. thay would also take this time to sip his tea before moving on to his next part.

Within the grounds of the pagodas, everytime there is a strike of gong or the "wooden-fish" (mu4 yu2) -- used to announce mealtime -- everyone would stop whatever he/she is doing and have the attention come back to the body for the brief interval. Where there is no gong or bell, people are encouraged to use the sound of the telephone as a reminder of mindful living. during walking, one remains silent; and during talking, one doesn't move around. it was thus nicknamed "no walkie-talkie".

At mealtimes, food would be arranged in buffet style. before picking up the cutlery, people bowed to the food. no one talks on the dining table. one joins his palms to say prayers or recite contemplations silently before and after eating. on some occasions, the first fifteen minutes of silence is observed after which one may talk, but not eating or picking up food and talking at the same instance. after eating, one washes and dries the bowls and cutlery using the row of water-filled basins and neatly hanged towels. it is good fun!

My stay in vietnam took on a different dimension when i met the buddhists and monastics. i changed to a vegetarian diet and my life revolves around buddhism. this was my happiest period in vietnam. i encountered acts of kindness on many many occasions. i could emotionally relied on people around me knowing that i wouldn't be hurt.

After six weeks of travelling in saigon and hue, i slipped back to hanoi. my first thing was to settle my visa. i passed my passport to long, an ex-colleague to ask for help. it would be my 4th one-month extension and he suggested i seek help from m.anh, the centre manager. i thought everything would be settled when thanh called me to come to the office to sign the application form. a few days later, while on my trip to quang ninh with plum village, m.anh sent a message to tell me that my visa couldn't be extended. at that time, i had already overstayed for six days or so. i felt lost. i went to the singapore embassy where s.yen advised me to explain my situation to the immigration department.

The immigration officer required me to get a new visa for 35usd and to leave vn as soon as possible. she asked for my air ticket which i don have and i purchased a train ticket to the border instead. i was lucky to be a sgrean -- i can enter china for 15 days without visa. on the train, i met yu jie who was heading for china. after a day at the border, i entered vn successfully again for 30 days without visa and continued my journey to binh dinh for the last ten days of the plum village trip.

On my train ride to quy nhon, capital city of binh dinh province, i shared a six-men hard-sleeper cabin with five other locals -- 4 men and 1 lady. the cabin is small with just enough space to sleep. i had forgotten to ask for vegetarian food and decided to feed on meat (the amount of vegetables is not enough to make my stomach full). the next morning, i got a fever and after lunch, i vomitted. i felt weak but managed to drag myself to quy nhon. i checked in to a nzlander-run backpackers' lodge. that night, i din sleep well. i got up several times to pass motion and to throw up. the panadols i took were purged out of my system. that was food poisoning, my second one (read first encounter). but the other five on the train were alright. i wondered if it's because i've broken my promise to abstain from meat. i lost my appetite and recovered two or three days later.

On my last second day in quy nhon, i got acquainted with three thais who had come to participate in the plum village trip. one of them, chai, stayed in the same guesthouse and told me they would head for nha trang the following day. that day when i was dragging my luggage to the pagoda where i would meet my thai friends, a xe om came up to me and asked if i needed a ride. as the time was still early, i declined. he insisted on giving me a ride and said he would not charge me anything. i then hopped on and upon reaching the pagoda, he refused to take my money. i don't know why, but quy nhon people are indeed kind.

for the next two days, i was in the company of the thai trio in nha trang.