Jan 25, 2005 - Day 203 in Bangkok, Thailand

Sarah writes: We went to Ben’s funeral today. It was a strange affair as we had never been to a Buddhist funeral (though Charles has seen one on Six Feet Under). We first entered the temple and lit incense to help escort his soul to nirvana. Then we tied red strings on our wrists which you leave there to remember him. Four monks came in and chanted prayers and it was so mesmerizing that the two of us were in a trance and lost track of how long this went on. Mr. Fix-it, who weighs all of 100lbs., was on his 8th beer by this point. He dragged Charles up to the monks to offer presents and clothing. Mr. Fix-it and other coworkers of Ben’s told us that he had been leading a very solitary life for the past ten years. He was soon going to retire and become a Monk himself. We feel really privileged to have gotten to know him. The little time we had to get to know him gave us confidence that the life he led will bring him exactly where he wanted to be - with Buddha. While we were at the funeral Charles started to feel extremely sick. He was nauseous and very warm. He kept leaving the table afraid of getting sick, causing us to stand out even more that we already did at this affair. When we got back to the hotel he had a temperature of 104 degrees so we went to the hospital at midnight.