The Way of the Buddha

Of all the places we've traveled we've never experienced Buddhism like we have in Burma. Monks and nuns are everywhere and there are more monasteries and pakodas then anywhere on earth I'm sure. The absolute splendor of some of them surpassed anything we'd seen and the serene simplicity of others was breathtaking. While we were there the school holidays were coming and many people were preparing to send their children to the monasteries for a few months. The numbers really grow during this time. The nuns wear an orange underskirt with a pink overdress. Both monks and nuns have matching umbrellas to protect them from the sun. I don't know if it's just in the Inle Lake area or the whole country but I was told that the nuns can only be given alms twice a week so they must collect enough food to sustain them at those times. I think I saw novices both male and female around 5 years old. Many of the monks we met who were between 20 and 30 years old had already been in the monasteries for many years and wanted to maintain that life.
One day we rode by a monastery that was described as the most photographed monastery in Burma.It's a bit disturbing because tourists are distracting the monks. I even saw a woman taking pictures of the monks bathing behind the building. The boy monks who were at the windows seemed to be confused about the attention and you've never seen so many giant cameras in one place in your life.
In Thailand, Laos and Cambodia when you visit a temple you must take off your shoes before entering but in Burma you must take off your shoes before entering the grounds which made for a lot of walking in bare feet on concrete, marble or tile. It was hard on the feet and could be really dirty with pigeon poop and other unidentified stuff. We walked up and down hundreds of steps in our bare feet and sometimes had a hard time keeping track of our shoes!
Another thing that was different was the way monks behaved. In Burma it's possible for a woman to speak to a monk and you can look directly at them and they at you.
We went to one teak monastery that was the oldest in Burma and there were only two monks there in a giant space. One was elderly and one young. The elder greeted anyone who entered and offered a seat and fruit to eat. He was very very interested in where we were from and our lives at home. We visited him again another day and took out computer to show him. He examined every inch of it while asking endless questions about it. I would have loved to give him one. His is the first picture.We had the experience over and over of talking to people and when we asked if we could take their pictures they became really solomn. He was so warm and his face radiated kindness but he looked very serious in the pictures.
These are some of the images of that life we took around Inle Lake.