Hello to everyone,

My name is Julian and as the title states I'm looking for a suitable place for a longer retreat to "gun" for stream entry.First of all thanks to the core people in this forum and of course Daniel. I've been lurking here for a while now.I've ran into my Dark Night Cycles at a rather early age without knowing what was going on and was on and off depression for far too long. When I picked up my copy of MCTB about 2 years ago and read about the Dukkha Nanas I remember a giant moment of relief. Seriously, thank you.  

My Practice has been on and off for the past 2 years, I was on 3 short retreats in the German Monastery / Retreat Centre of Ven. Ayya Khema and try to keep up a daily practice  of a) forgiveness/metta and b) breath-anchored noting. I can hit Accsess concentration (or what I think it to be) routinely, maybe even soft Jhana, though I'm not sure that qualifies for the name.

I've hit A&P-events rather often (more outside of formal practice actually) and have been flirting with some chrisitan faith healing / magick, since I have some practinioners close to me. While it has done wonderful things, the fundamental suffering is obviously still there (and I'm having a hard time with their style and concepts, but that's probably discussed in a different thread). 

Right now I hate everything, feel very obvious "desire for deliverance" and will soon have the opportunity to go on a larger retreat.
The question being: where? I'll be heading for south-east Asia this autumn/winter, primarily the Philippines, but 
visiting another country should be no hindrance. Duration...err... let's say 2-3 months.

Any recommendations/ experience to share?

In another thread I've read about Pa-Auk Forest Monastery, which sounds fine, though I'm more inclined to Mahasi-Noting. Read: I think that I am, I've never been on extensive Mahasi-Noting before actually, but you guys valuing it that much caught my interest. The primary goal is stream entry and not so much exploring Jhana, returning home, losing the "muscle" and being in the same old rut again. I've waited a long time for this opportunity and want to make it count.

That being said: What do you think of solo-retreat? I might be able to organise a cottage in a not too densely dwelled area. I somewhat like the idea, though I'm concerned about spacing out too much, losing momentum while fulfilling basic needs, getting distracted by curiosity for the unknown area and not being able to get past certain stages without guidance (though ultimately I'm on my own anyway, huh?). 

Advantage would be... well, less people around. I'm dealing with a lot of aversion towards humans in general right now; being EXTREMELY sensitve to other people's energies and finer vibrations really doesn't help. A mentor of mine (healing suff) actually warned me of group retreats in general, as I might just be taking in and reacting to other people's stuff, as if mine wasn't enough. 

Looking forward to speaking with you,

sincerely, 
Julian

If you're ever in Bangkok, a good place to make inquiries is Wat Mahathat, Section 5. You can ask permission to stay there. You can also stay in a hotel and just go for the meditation sessions.

Here's another one:

First annual Wisdom and Mindfulness retreats for westerners in Myanmar

This one looks interesting. One of the folks assisting in the retreat is Alan Clements, the first American to ordain as a monk in Burma in the late 60's (early 70's?). He wrote a book about his experience, Instinct for Freedom in which he goes into quite a bit of detail about his time in robes. His preceptor was Mahasi Sayadaw (!) and his meditation instructor was Sayadaw U Pandita (!) He writes quite openly about his experience of the stages along the path. If you have any familiarity with the Progress of Insight, you'll have a fun time following along.

He seems like an interesting guy. Spent a lot of time in Burma later as a reporter, "embedded" with a rebel faction, and also interviewed Aung San Suu Kyi during her time under house arrest for another book.