Lunch with 1,500 monks

Adorned in their deep red robes monks appeared, lining the path, tightly holding their alms bowls. 89% of the Myanmar population are Buddhist and every Buddhist male is expected to become a monk and take up temporary residence in a monastery at least twice in his life time. The Maha Ganayon Kyaung monastery in Mandalay is home to 1,500 of these monks. At 11am every day they line the paths of the monastery and wait patiently for their lunch, which has to be served and eaten before noon. 

Even though there is a big sign welcoming tourists to watch this incredible spectacle and inviting us to take photographs I felt a little uncomfortable looking on as the line of hungry men and boys grew. The group of tourists on the other side of the road to us accentuated this discomfort. Laden with big bags of sweets they handed out their offerings as the monks walked passed towards the vats of simple food awaiting them. Unfortunately these tourists must have missed the sign asking people not to cross the monks paths as they zigzagged between them, rushing back to replenish their supply of sweets. Watching from afar, despairing at this act of generosity we wondered if even such big bags of sweets would be equally shared amongst the entire monastery. Unfortunately our wonderings were proved correct and we felt very sorry for the monks not only at the end of the queue to recive their lunch, but also missing out on the sweets.

I guess we can’t be too disparaging about the other tourists though as we ourselves took photos and made the visit to the monastery in the first place. 

Wanting to chat, practice their English and tell us about their faith some of the monks approached us. They appreciated our interest in their monastery and were very welcoming to all of the tourists, which definitely put us at ease. This is one of the many things I grew to love in Myanmar; the genuine interest and openness of everyone we met.

The monks ate and took a break before spending the whole afternoon studying. As they rested we wondered around the monastery, it was so peaceful and even living such a frugal lifestyle we could understand why people stay so long or rejoin later in life.