Little monk

It is the most important duty of all Burmese parents to make sure their sons are admitted to a Buddhist monastery for a few months. Usually when the boy is about 7 years old, he goes through an initiation ceremony, in which his head is shaved. He lives in a monastic community, begs daily for his food in the local town or village, and attends the monastery school. If he is interested in being ordained as a monk, he returns to the monastery at the age of about 20.

This little monk was at a school in a village upstream of Bagan. The school was sponsored by the shipping company that we were with, and we arrived with exercise books and pencils for every child.

Lots more photos in my blog.