Chess with a Monk

Funny how life is all about 'hurry up and wait' sometimes... if you can keep your head about you, it's not so bad. I had the good fortune of sitting next to Saem, a monk based in Bkk. Turns out he has been to the temple in Denver. He'd just returned from Taiwan and will go to Germany on the 10th of Nov to take care of Loi Kratong for some thais somewhere in Germany. He really gets around (at least in my book). Speaking of patience, we ended up in the bathroom - the swarm of humanity had to do their thing before him as he patiently waited for ALL to finished before cueing up. A similar situation occured on the aircraft when we were to disembark, everyone assumed he would wait on the aircraft till it emptied, however, he waited until someone motioned for him to exit thus allowing me to exit the aircraft as well. It was a good way to begin - slowly and patiently - besides it was already 2am (an essentially irrelevant factoid). I invited Saem to a chess match on the aircraft as there was an LCD in the back of each headrest with games and movies... unfortunately he didn't know how to play. I may attempt to visit his Wat in Southern BKK before he goes to Germany.