About Next Life in the Afternoon

Next Life in the Afternoon is a book I am writing about a trip I took to Thailand in February 2004. My friend Phramaha Nattapong, a Buddhist monk I had met in North Carolina, asked me if I wanted to come home with him and become a monk for a short period. How could I say no? When would I have that type of opportunity again?

Traveling is used as a vehicle for this story of spiritual seeking, personal growth, adoption and rejection of culture, intrapersonal investigation, doubt and reaffirmation of strength. The book challenges popular concepts of home, strength, travel and cultural interchange.

The story surrounds the various people I encountered and experiences I had while in Thailand and what happened when I was told that I could not be ordained, after having traveled 28 hours by plane to get there.

What’s with the name?
“Next life in the afternoon” is a translation of the Thai idiom “Cha na bai bai.” It’s a lightly humorous expression of frustration in plans not working out as intended. This seemed to me to be an apt title, since I was not able to become a monk. It also ties in the concept of reincarnation, which is key in Buddhist belief and thus Thai culture.

About the author:
Carl Weaver is a writer and photographer and based in Arlington, VA and available for assignment around the globe. A specialist in travel writing and portrait photography, Weaver enjoys creativity in his artistic pursuits and loves to play with light, shadow, depth of field and macro lenses.

He also loves being back in the south after a number of years up north, which he found both lovely and too cold.

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