Alms

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13-19th Mar
We got up at 5am to go and see monks. Anybody can go here and they can put food in the monks pots. The monks come in lines from different temples. Everybody has to be lower than the monks. They can't beg for their food, the food they get is for the day. Everybody who feeds the monks gets a blessing, they feed them sticky rice. These three men were eating more of the rice than giving it to the monks.

We went on a bamboo bridge over the Nam Khan. It was freaky it felt like it was going to snap. In some parts I had to hold my breath because I was so worried. When I got to the end I could breathe. On the way back we saw some huge spiders, they were bigger than a mug and as long as my big finger x2. Their webs were enormous, and one could cover up your head and more.

We climbed 190 steps to get to the top of the temples. The sunset was amazing, there were so many people. Luckily we got a good spot the sky was bright red. Sophie

Parental Facts - monks attend monastic school, besides learning Buddhist scriptures they can learn physics, biology, English etc. They can go right through secondary school this way and then chose whether to become a monk or leave the monastery, for example, to go to university. An individual can chose whether to become a monk or their parents can make the "choice" for them. They can also just go to the local secondary school. We spoke to the monks sitting in the photo, they were all 16-17 years old and spoke excellent English. Some could also speak some German, French, Japanese and more.

"Lao Rocks" are the sons and nephews of our hosts, Khoun and Khone.

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