Tan B. asked yesterday if the pace he was walking at the alms round was OK. No one had asked me that before! I think for experienced monks all surfaces are largely the same whereas for me I can go faster only on smoother ones and struggle otherwise. Also somehow I’ve gone up in weight. I think it must have been an anomaly as I measured in a hurry as Ajahn A. came in to do some cleaning in the phone room and I found it a bit awkward so I rushed out.

Tan Ajahn gave a rather sombre ovata explaining the situation with the coronavirus. Since it was getting worse outside of Thailand, WPN is becoming a target as it is a known hotspot for cross-border travel. As a result he’s having to put a halt to incoming laypeople, and monks arriving from virus hotspots will have to be quarantined to their kutis. He’s also advising all Pa Kao and laymen to return to their countries because they run the risk of overstaying their visas if they can’t return should the situation get worse. It will be interesting to see how the situation develops for us without Pa Kao or laymen in terms of the chores that need doing. The other monks have said that they’ve faced this before and that they only need to stick to necessities.