It is 510 steps up the mountain to Wat Tham Pha Plang, a Thai Buddhist temple built into the Chiang Dao Mountain.

We were staying about 500 yards away in a bamboo hut that was surrounded by jungle.  We had planned on staying only 1 day but it was so beautiful we extended our visit.

And every day we would wake up and walk the 510 steps up the mountain.  It was perfect.  Not only did it give us our physical exercise everyday, but with inspirational, thought-provoking signs all the way up it worked our minds as well.  And spiritually it was as magnificent a place to meditate as I’ve found.

On this particular day it got even better.

For as we began our long trek back down, we met up with a novice monk and struck up a conversation.  This rarely happens as monks seldom hang with us common folk.

His broken English was passable and we spoke about his journey to be a monk, his teachers, family and the village he left behind.  We were having such a nice time; I thought introductions were in order.  I pointed to myself and said, “I’m Michael, what is your name?”  He said his name was Prin, and then said, “You Nakbin”.

I said, “No, my name is Michael”.
He then stated, “Michael, You Nakbin, Wingman”.

Whaaaaattttt???

I almost fell down and you can imagine the smile that came across my face.

“Nakbin, Wingman”, he reiterated.

I was laughing, unsure why he said it, when he pointed to my now favorite t-shirt, which you can see in the attached photo.

It has Thai writing, on top of wings, on top of the English word wingman.

I knew it had said “wingman’ in Thai, but didn’t know how it was pronounced.

I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling as he repeated, “Nakbin, Wingman”, a few more times.

As we got to the bottom of the steps and said goodbye, he said, “Thank you Nakbin for helping me with my English”.

I was honored and it made me realize how easy it is to help others.  How when we help others, we help ourselves. How, when we help others, we expand our “village”.  And the happier our village is, the easier it is for us, and for each person in our village, to be happy.

So today, please do me a favor and reach out and help someone.
Consciously think of, or look for, someone you can help today.

It can be a simple phone call to lend an ear to someone in need, a donation of something you don’t use, a nice email or helping someone with a chore.

You’ll feel great and forget about your problems, if only for the moment.

And even better, you’ll be a Nakbin.

Thank you for helping,
Michael