In the bus to Monywa we met a monk with an old Lonely Planet in his hand. 28 years old, he had lived for already 15 years in a monastery near Mandalay. He was travelling around Burma and was now on his way to visit his native village. He invited us to stay with a family in his village and witness a Buddhist ceremony.
The village where we stayed.
The girls of the family who took great care of us.
The yellow stuff on our faces is Burmese make-up: thanaka. You get it from rubbing the bark of a special tree on a rock with some water. More than just making us beautiful, it also protects us against the sun.
The grandma of our host family. Was still very talkative, and funny (and had the same amount of teeth as Lucie Les 3 Rivieres after her trip in Slovakia).
All Buddhists are to live as a monk twice in their life. When the boys and girls go for the first time to the monastery (to stay for 1 night or more) a great ceremony is held in which the whole village takes part.
The novices ('future child monks')
Obviously we couldn't attend the ceremony in our usual dirty outfit. The girls took great pleasure in dressing us up.
First the thanaka!
There we are, Burmese style! (Stop laughing behind your screen, you just don't get Burmese fashion!)
Dancing in a longyi (the traditional Burmese skirt) is a bit dangerous. It quite easily falls down; but luckily we had our crew to avoid disaster.
More dancing!
And then the novices are led through the village on horses. Or, if no horses available, on motobikes. The villagers follow with offerings to the temple.
It was difficult to leave the lovely village after 3 days. The women were in tears (and Vanes as well).
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