Mahayana Retreat

[thaicurious]

Hi Forum,

I'm considering at least a month-long exploratory visit to see if I might like to retire early to Thailand which has captured my curiosity for many years now. I'm getting some flack from family about this so not sure how this might work out. But in any case, I might extend that trip to a two or three month visit and if so I might be interested in doing a retreat. I've been exposed to the idea of that, having some Buddhist family members, but I've never participated in one before. And I'm not usually into organized religion-esque type things so I'm not even sure if I'd be well-suited to this.

My background is that I'm a born-lucid dreamer so very experienced in that and also experienced in dream yoga since studying Dzogchen for more than 20 years now. Also experience in kundalini yoga which I figured out pretty much on my own about 20 years ago, before I'd studied anything about it formally. I've never studied the Theravada school of Buddhism directly but would be interested in learning about that. I'm not real into dogma and shaving my head and eyebrows doesn't excite me at all. I've been a vegetarian (lacto-ovo with some fish if there's nothing else on the menu) since my 30s. I speak only English, and sometimes gibberish, haha.

I'm currently debating cranking up a new career late in life (now in my 50s) stateside or taking off to SEA and exploring that. So I thought if I did a retreat while in Thailand, I'd probably benefit from any of them of course but I thought I might be more comfortable in the tradition that I'm more familiar with as a start. But in researching that, I've found only very few Wats of the Mahayana schools--not that I know anything of any of the retreat centers there--and so thought I'd inquire here.

I'm aware of Mahapanya Vindayalai down in Hat Yai, so I don't know if being so far south might be a safety concern? But they do teach in English so that would be good. Also I found one around Chiang Mai called Wat Pa Sukawadee but I can't even begin to read their website. Heck, I couldn't even pick up Spanish while living in south Florida never mind that I should have to learn Vietnamese while staying in Thailand. Yikes!

I think I'd like to spend half my time around Chiang Mai and then half elsewhere in Thailand. So if anyone knows anything about those two or if they know of any other retreats of any schools that might suit me I'd appreciate the input. Thank you.