When I arrived in Nyaungshwe, the town closest to Inle Lake, my first order of business was heading over to my favorite monastery, Shwe Yaung Pyay. During my last trip to town, my friend Jeff had accompanied me to the monastery and had let the young novice monks there borrow his camera for a day. They took a couple hundred photos by themselves, some of which were quite good. I was now returning with prints of those photos to give the monks.

Later that morning, riding my bike down the narrow, rutted road to the monastery I was surprised to see some of the young monks walking on the road towards town. I waved and they waved and I kept pedaling. What are they doing walking around at this time of the day, I wondered? Normally they would be back at the monastery getting ready for lunch at this time. When I arrived at the monastery a few minutes later I didn’t see a soul. The main hall, where the monks usually hang out and study was abandoned. Walking around the grounds I saw a group of Pa-O villagers eating in one of the adjacent buildings, but no signs of any monks. After a bit more searching I found a couple youngsters sweeping up in another building. They told me the rest of the monks would return at two o’clock that afternoon. Apparently it was some sort of free day for them with no studies to do.

I returned later that afternoon, bringing not only my big batch of photos, but also some books (mostly children’s and other easy to read titles in English), magazines, and pens. One of the monks, Te Kju, is an avid English student, and I was hoping he and some of the other monks would enjoy the books. When I visited last time all he had was a couple of dictionaries to practice with. This time the monks were back in force (about fifty live at the monastery), but no sign of Te Kju. Another monk that I know, Soe Win, told me that Te Kyu and nine of the older novice monks were in Taunggyi (about an hour’s drive) studying for the month. So I ended up giving the stuff to Soe Win for distribution and safekeeping. I spent most of the next two hours talking to Soe Win and the other monks, practicing my Burmese and showing them recent photos that I’d taken in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.

The novices were delighted with the photos I had brought them. They spread them out on the ground and started dividing up the lot. “You’re in this one,” one would yell to another monk. “Here, take this one,” another one would tell his buddy. They chattered and grinned and teased one another, and even posed for a few more shots. Whenever I see monks I can’t help but take more shots; in those red robes they are such photogenic subjects. And they certainly aren’t shy about posing for the camera. I think they have gotten quite used to being photographed by the many tourists that drop by the monastery.

There are a couple of cats that stay at the monastery, and one of the kittens appeared to have adopted me during my visits, climbing up onto my lap for naps each time. Luckily, I wore a longyi and my legs didn’t get scratched from the repeated cat naps. In fact, I wore the longyi a lot this trip; all around Nyaungshwe and Mandalay, especially during cycling trips. It was comfortable and cool, and thanks to essential longyi-tying lessons from William Myatwunna at Good News Travels in Yangon, I managed to keep the garment from falling down. However, when cycling, I soon learned that the longyi was susceptible to “flying up” when strong gusts of wind came along. I had to quickly catch the flying flaps or risk public exposure. Thankfully, my hands were quick and I caught it in time. Well, some of the time, anyway.

My second day in Nyaungshwe I came back to the monastery early in the morning bearing bunches of bananas I had bought at the market. Last trip I had brought the monks some mangoes, and the time before that a few kilos of oranges, but bananas were about all that was available this time of the year. On this morning, the monks were back in their usual rigorous schedule of lessons, interspersed with chanting. As a result I didn’t have as much time to talk with them as I had done the day before, but I managed to take a few more photos and spend time with the sleepy kitten. Before leaving I promised to return again; bearing more photos and books for these kind and appreciative young students of Buddhism.

Posted by dgilliland Bangkok