A Thai Buddhist Walks the Camino de Santiago

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain is the destination of the pilgrimage

The Siam Society. Bangkok, Thailand. March 10, 2011. Surprisingly, before Thursday’s program at The Siam Society, I had actually heard of the Camino de Santiago. Years ago, I briefly met a young man in Barcelona who had just made the pilgrimage, and a good German friend of mine who lives in Munich, had told me a little about his journey through France and Spain to reach the Tomb of St. James (“Santiago” in Spanish) in Spain.

Camino de Santiago is the most important pilgrimage route in Europe and it dates back to the 9th century. To do it properly, a pilgrim walks 900 kilometers along a set route which takes about a month to navigate through mountains, forests, streams, rural towns looking much as they must have looked centuries ago, along roads, paths, and rocky and unimproved walkways. It is a physically grueling and debilitating experience.

Kh. Jumbhot Chuasai is a Thai Buddhist who, for personal reasons, decided to embark on this particularly Christian activity. He explained to the audience that he wanted to challenge himself, and to look inward for some period of time, and towards this end, he raised 500,000 baht (US$17,000) from friends to sponsor him, with all money going to pay for cataract surgeries for 100 poor Thais, the procedure itself to be performed by a ophthalmologist friend at 5000 baht ($170) per surgery. Kh. Jumbhot lost 10 kilos (22 pounds) and six toe nails during his 27 day pilgrimage.

Kh. Jumbhot’s lecture and slide show of his unique pilgrimage journey, reminded me of the travelogues which used to be common fare many decades ago. I used to love attending them at Grady Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, Arizona, which ran a yearly series of about six films each. There were several well-known professional travelers who came back every year to narrate their films in person. During these early years, such places as London and Tokyo were considered exotic and most people in the audience considered foreign travel out-of-reach. Like these professional filmmaker-travelers, Kh. Jumbhot excelled in his engaging commentary accompanying his beautiful slides. It was a fascinating evening. I was particularly struck with the medieval-looking towns in northern Spain through which much of the Camino del Santiago passed, no signs of modernity, such as TV antennas, satellite dishes, utility poles, being observable. I had thought that such towns had ceased to exist.

Anyone interested in learning more about Camino de Santiago can take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago. It’s a fascinating story.