4. Myanmar monasteries

Some monasteries in Myanmar inhabit old but beautiful teak buildings, built over 100 years ago, such as the one we stumbled across in Bagan and a wonderful friendly monk showed us round. Teak is one of the main natural resources of Myanmar, along with jade and rubies. 

Note the motor bike on the verandah! 

Library area.

Sleeping area in the corner of a large communal dormitory.

The beautiful teak staircase with "our monk" leading the way.

The monks pots, which they carry round at dawn for offerings of food. Each monk has his own pot. 

This was another beautiful old monastery outside He Ho near Inle Lake.

And with the young monks studying....

Or chatting....! 

Monastery near Mandalay at Saigun where over 100 monks live. They queue up every day for food which is donated by individual families who then come and help serve the monks. They line up in age and seniority order and leave their sandals in neat rows, each has a different mark on them so they know who's is who's! Many boys spend some time as a novice monk at some point in their childhood.

An ancient scroll book that opens out like a concertina, and is made on special parchment.