Read a version of this story in Vietnamese
Vietnamese monk and internet sensation Thich Minh Tue is traveling to northern Thailand by bus after he was denied entry Tuesday into Myanmar on his 2,700-kilometer (1,600 miles) barefoot pilgrimage to India.
For more than two months, Minh Tue has been walking across Thailand with a entourage that has grown to about 30 people, including five other monks along with dozens of YouTubers documenting his journey.
But with Myanmar gripped by a civil war, the group has been uncertain for a few weeks now about how they would get across the country to India, the birthplace of Buddhism -- or whether authorities would even let them in.
With the Buddhist monk’s Thai visa nearing expiration, the group decided to give up walking -- part of what had drawn people to Minh Tue in the first place -- and chartered a bright pink bus to get them more quickly to Thailand’s western border town of Mae Sot.
“My visa will soon expire. So now, I need to take a ride to the border gate,” Minh Tue -- “Thich” signifies that he’s a monk -- told YouTubers who are covering his trek. “If it is open, I will enter Myanmar immediately.”
RFA had reported that Minh Tue’s Thai visa had been extended on Feb. 24 by 30 days. But later, Phuoc Nghiem, a volunteer who helps the group with visa paperwork, clarified in a YouTube video that the extension was only for 15 days -- or until Feb. 9.
Back on the bus
Once they reached Mae Sot midday Tuesday, the entourage of 30 filed off the bus and went to the border gate, an RFA reporter on the scene said.
But there they were told that only Thai and Myanmar citizens could cross. The other side of the border has seen fighting between Myanmar junta soldiers and rebels.
So the monk and his entourage got back on the bus and headed 560 kilometers (350 miles) north to Mae Sai to try their luck at the border crossing there, YouTubers covering his trip said.
By Tuesday night, they were close to Mae Sai, they said.
Internet hero
Minh Tue, who carries a rice cooker with him for alms, became a internet star last year in Vietnam while walking across the country. People were drawn to his ascetic lifestyle and humble manner.
Vietnam’s state-sanctioned Buddhist sangha has not officially recognized him as a monk, but he has nonetheless garnered widespread admiration and support.
At one point, Vietnamese authorities, leery of his popularity, announced he had “voluntarily retired.”
Late last year, he decided to go on a pilgrimage to India, the birthplace of Buddhism.
He left Vietnam in November, walked across Laos and entered Thailand around New Year’s.
Since then, he and his group have been walking across Thailand on hot asphalt roads, covering about about 20 kilometers (12 miles) each day.
If he is unable to enter Myanmar, Minh Tue has raised the possibility of flying to Sri Lanka, and then going to India, tracing the route in reverse along which Buddhism first arrived in Thailand.
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.