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Become a monk or Muslim for a month
If you really want to "go local" on your next vacation, have you considered changing your religion? A new program in Turkey offers guests a chance to be Muslim for a month in order to foster cultural awareness. The term month is used loosely - guests can choose from nine- and twenty-one-day programs, including visits to some of Istanbul's most famous mosques, lessons on Islam and Sufism (famed for their Whirling Dervishes), an invite to an Islamic wedding, and side trips to some of Turkey's most important Muslim sites. While in Istanbul, guests stay in a 400-year-old Sufi lodge and take in many of the non-religious sites of the city.
The Blood Foundation started with a "temple stay" program in Thailand, where guests can learn about Thai Buddhism, volunteer with a school on the Burma border, and stay with a hill tribe family.
Gadling readers, would you want to experience another religion on your travels?
Photo courtesy Flickr user huygens.
Filed under: Learning, Europe, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Turkey
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris Roberts Apr 29th 2011 8:05PM
you make a very valid point. I'm looking forward to Meg's reply.
Meg Nesterov Apr 30th 2011 5:00AM
Good question. I haven't heard of any protests so far. While the Muslim for a month program is still very new, the monk program has been going for a few years. I think for anyone to spend the money and time to travel for these programs has to be curious and respectful of the religion, but it isn't forever - you won't be converted at the end! I could see as how programs like this could be protested in, say, America, but as they are in Muslim and Buddhist countries, they should be peaceful and accepted.