Tourist Gets Not One Word Of Monk's Tale

HUAN SAY WAT - A Dutch tourist who visited the informal Monk Chat Session at Huan Say Wat Monastery claims not to have understood one single word 'his' monk spoke to him. Not proud of what he has done, the baffled tourist faked his way through the hour-and-a-half conversation, which resulted in exactly zero insights for both tourist and monk.

The weekly chat sessions at Huan Say Wat is promoted as an opportunity for Westerners to gain a better understanding of Buddhism while the monks practice their English. "I believe the monk spoke English - it said so in the leaflet - but the accent was so thick, it was all Greek to me," the Dutchman commented.

Not wanting to make the monk feel bad for his horrible pronunciation, the tourist faked understanding and enjoying the conversation by giving general replies such as: 'That is interesting', 'Isn't that difficult?', 'I admire that' and the frequently uttered, 'I see!'

But the conversation brought not even a trace of enlightenment to the lying Dutchman. For example, after hearing the monk say: 'Whis manist Thif paauw thong', the tormented traveller replied: "Can you explain that to me again?" Complying with his request, the monk repeated serenely loud: 'WHIS MANIST THIF PAAUW THONG!', which made his conversational partner reply, blatantly lying: "Ah, I see. Now I fully understand the significance of what you just said!"

After thanking the monk "for the wonderful conversation", the Dutch backpacker bought a small booklet 'Buddhism 101'. It included all the monk had tried to say - and more - during the most ineffective hour-and-a-half of the Dutch tourist's travel experience. However, while leaving Huan Say Wat, the tourist told reporters that his experience "may prove to be 'Chroncle material' in the future."