In January 2011, a traveler experienced a humorous incident in a hotel in Bagan, Myanmar, when he accidentally startled a hotel staff member by walking into a room while trying to seek help for a jammed bathroom door. The staff member mistook him for a ghost and begged for his life, which took some time to clarify. The encounter ended positively as the staff member helped fix the door, and the traveler learned valuable lessons about fear and misunderstanding.

1. 1
Begging a Ghost…
A True Story

2. 2
In January 2011,
a group of 20 of
us made a 9-Day
tour to Myanmar
covering
interesting places
from Yangon up
till the city of
Mandalay
in the north.

3. 3
On the third day, we took an internal
flight to Bagan, an ancient city of
amazing pagodas and stupas.

4. 4
It was at a Hotel in Bagan that I had one of the
most funny experiences in my life.
My room mate and I had checked
into the twin room at about 10.30 pm.
Before long we were fast asleep..

5. 5
At around 1 am, I got up to answer the call of
nature. I did not lock the attached bathroom door.
After I had eased myself, I came out and closed the
bathroom door. I found that
the round doorknob got into a jam.

6. 6
Counte
r
Closed
For The
Night
The Hotel had all the rooms and the Reception on
the ground floor. I decided to walk to get help from
the front reception place. It was dark all around. I
used a torch light and when I reached the reception
counter, it was closed. However,
I saw a room nearby, dimly lit.

7. 7
As the door was half-
closed, I walked into
the room. I saw two
Hotel staff members
on duty fast asleep on
the bed. I called softly
to one of the two men,
hoping to wake
him up.

8. 8
One of the men
opened his eyes
and when he saw
me standing near
him, a nearly bald-
headed man in
sarong and a long-
sleeved shirt, he
must have got the
shock of his life. He
knelt to one side of
the bed and clasped
his hands in
a prayer position.
He was terrified.

9. 9
He begged me in broken English…
‘Oh, Ghost…please
don’t…don’t kill me. I no
do bad…I am
good man.’

10. 10
It took me a few
minutes to
calm him down.
I dangled my
bunch of hotel
keys in front
of him and
explained about
our jammed
bathroom door.

11. 11
The poor man soon recovered
from his ‘shock’… he was
really nice and helpful. He had
the bathroom door fixed in no
time. I apologized to him for
scaring him out of his wits and
I gave him a generous tip.
So everything ended well.
Ha, I did not for once, think that
I could look like a ghost!

12. 12
* Fear arises in the mind because of misunderstanding,
conditioning, and not seeing things as they really are.
* A mind that is trained in mindfulness, heedfulness and
awareness can cut the roots of greed, ill will and delusion.
* Oftentimes, what is speculated on and have no logical
basis can drive one to irrational fear.
* One needs to cast aside superstition, develop
understanding and wisdom of all mental and physical
phenomena . Then one will be calm and happy!
My
Reflections

13. 13
The End
There are LIFE Lessons we can
learn from many a happening.
May our Wisdom grow as we
strive on in our Dhamma learning.
With Metta,
Bro. Oh Teik Bin