Scholarships monks
Offering the scholarships to two monks in Lopburi takes place on “Buddhist day”. One day a week it is Buddhist day and depending on the moon cycle it can be any day. This time it’s Saturday and it’s full moon. The monks start chanting early and we hear a loudspeaker from our tent. There are a lot of people at the temple, especially middle-aged ladies, who have brought food for the monks. The people watch us on our arrival as the monks begin their meal. After they have finished eating, we listen to more chanting, before being asked to come forward.
The hall is very beautiful, fairly new with a warm glow of orange and deep yellow ornaments and flags. The nuns are also present and always dressed in white. Antoinette follows Lee’s instructions and lays three envelopes on an orange plaid in front of the head monk. We pose twice, once with the monks and then with the nuns and the ceremony is over. We spend the rest of the day packing up our camp site, so that we can leave early tomorrow morning. As night falls, it gets busier, many tourists which come for Buddhist day, pay special attention to the elephants. Some even bring bananas or other food with them. Mr. Vichai, the leader of the village obviously been advertising for us through the loudspeaker, which might explain why many people come to our camp site tonight.
