Funniest Thing for February

This item appears on page 20 of the February 2008 issue.

Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.

This month’s winner is BETTY DOVEY of Claremont, CA:

While doing a Q&A at a Buddhist university in Thailand in September ’07, someone asked if Buddhist priests could marry.

Our 23-year-old monk replied, “No, it is the same as in your country. Priests and preachers cannot marry.”

He was informed that only Catholic priests could not marry but Protestant preachers could.

There was a moment of silence; you could see the wheels going around in his head. Then his eyes lit up, and with a big smile he stated that he would become a Protestant Buddhist.