Myanmar - What About Underwear?

The second half of the day was spent at a monastery and convent.  At the convent, the girls have the same deal as the boys - shaved heads, begging for their food, lots of studying.  But they get to wear pink!

I think these girls are coming back from class...

This young lady talked to our guide for a while (something about our guide helping her brother get his cleft palate fixed, I think our guide is some sort of saint), and she was so pretty I asked her to take a picture with me.  Of course as soon as the camera turned on her, she got all serious.

Until I finally got her to laugh.  She has the best smile.

In case you're wondering what the classrooms look like.  Yes, they sit on the floor here, too.

Taking a break from staying...

We still had a bit of time before lunch at the monastery, so we hopped over to the Buddha Sacred Tooth Relic Temple just down the road.  We have one of these in Singapore, too, but this one is totally different.  Much older, and build in the way-cooler Myanmar style.

If you wanted to give an offering, you put it in this little tinsel-covered boat and use a pulley to send it to the top.

Inside was the tooth.  Not the real one, but I guess it's an exact replica of the real Buddha tooth that's in China.  For some reason I wasn't expecting the whole tooth, I thought it would be just a chip or something.  But this was huge, I think it was an entire molar.

Back at the monastery, the monks were starting to file in with their alms bowls (lunches inside) that they had gathered during the morning.

Lunch bell!  Well, not a bell exactly, it was a a tree trunk that he banged with a mallet.  Louder than you'd think, though.

They lined up by age, and then started filing in.  There are mostly young monks at this monastery.  Since room, board and education is free, many of the poorer families send their kids here, so it's sort of like an orphanage.

Inside, they all pray together and then dig in.  They're not allowed to talk, so it's a bit eerie to be in a room with hundreds of boys and not a sound except for the clicking of spoons on plates.

As we were leaving, this little guy came hurrying in late for lunch, with a puppy trotting at his heels.  Adorable pair.

And in case you're wondering - they shave their heads every three days, and no, they don't wear underwear beneath those robes.

====================================

After a long day watching other people eat, we retired to our hotel.  I'm not sure I could handle the monk's life.  I like my hair.  And room service.