My wife and I wish to do a longer Mahasi retreat (30-60 days), and the only places we've found offering longer residencies at an affordable cost are in Southeast Asia. But the weather is so doggone hot! Constantly sweating through our clothes can be quite a distraction from practice.

To anyone who has done a retreat in Asia: how did you manage the heat?

Of all centers researched, we've only heard mention of air conditioning at Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha.
​​​​​​​What is the situation at MBMC?

Alternatively, do any reputable European centers (with milder weather) offer long-term retreats? Most centers in Europe seem to only offer shorter stays.
 

 If you can handle doing this as a solo retreat, you can find lots of places to do a long retreat in europe. I would recommend this option over flying thousands of miles for a retreat I feel like what really matters is how well you practice, rather than being at some supposedly fancier place. One example, Kalachakra retreat center, in France: you can definitely book an indefinitely long solo reatreat there. I would recommend that place, it is my go to retreat place here in France. You'll have to be clear with everyone there if you want to do a 14h/day silent intensive retreat, that they respect your silence and all that, but otherwise it is really conducive to practice, about 1.5h train away from Paris. 

In terms of Asia, I only went to Nepa, panditarama lumbini (I wouldn't really recommend the place), and I didn't really have a problem with the heat as I went in october. Maybe chose a time of the year when the weather is better ? 
 

Funny enough, we did a 19-day at Panditarama Lumbini in March, and the sweltering heat was the inspiration for this thread.

We are currently in Asia, wondering where to go next. Considering MBMC in Malaysia, and Mahasi Sasana Yeiktha in Burma.
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For anyone reading, would love to hear of Asian centers that manage the heat well, with sufficient fan coverage or even air conditioning.

​​​​​​​Thanks for the recommendation in France. 

First of all, I have heard March is in the hot season of Lumbini. If the heat is a problem, best to avoid doing retreats during that period.


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One other recommendation would be to stay in a temple/wat instead of a retreat centre.

For example, in northern Thailand one can stay free in Ajahn Martin's wat, Wat Phu Khong Tong. I'm pretty sure you can do your own vipassana retreats there and receive guidance there. There is also Wat Tham Wua that offers retreats, but I think the max stay in 10 days. Though perhaps you can ask to stay longer when they get familiar with your intentions.
I know another wat called Wat Tam Doi Toan that offers retreats.
These are all three wats in North Thailand. I can't fully recommend them because I've never been to them myself but just heard of them through word of mouth, and know friends who stayed at some of them. 

The north of Thailand can get pretty cool in the winter months (October — Feb), especially at higher elevations.
I was staying in a wat in the mountainous part of North Thailand last October and the temperature went down to around 10 degrees most nights.

all the best,

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To follow up - I made it to MBMC, and found that the heat situation there is greatly ameliorated by a pair of High Volume Low Speed (HVLS) fans in the meditation hall. These are those massive fans (see Big Ass Fans brand) that spin slowly but move huge amounts of air.

Because of this fan arrangement, the temperature in the MBMC sitting meditation hall never rose to uncomfortable levels. Sometimes, during rainstorms, it even got a little chilly! This is also the hall where women do their walking meditation.

The downstairs area where men do walking meditation also has some fans, although they could stand to have more there, so it sometimes got hot, although not unbearably so. 

Rooms are well ventilated as well, and I never felt hot while sleeping or lying in bed. 

Finally, there is still an air conditioned small room, in case you're going through a sweaty A&P and need somewhere to cool down even further! 

​​​​​​​Overall, MBMC is well maintained, well supported by the local sangha community, and an excellent place for long term retreat. An ideal place to dive deep into practice. 

Cheers. 

Misha
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