Full moon_special Buddha day

I uploaded the photos with the previous story. On the Monday I was to meet the woodcraft teacher alias tourguide as he took me around Yangon by foot seeing at least 3 more Buddhist sites. He was able to tell me a lot about them as well.
He also gave me a special gift, a buddhist 'necklace' they use to pray. It is said to be 36 years old!!! I asked my monk friend about it later and he thinks it is so to. How incredible that he wants to give that to me, eventhough I am not a Buddhist. It supposed to protect me when traveling. To rules apply, never take it to the toilet (even in a bag) and not keep it near my shoes! It will loose its energy and it is also considered very disrespectful. Photos of the morning with him are uploaded with the previous story.

In the afternoon I meet up with my young monk friend S., who takes me to the monestary of his friend from his State: Arakan State in the East

01_Arakine festival Buddha day

. Today is Full Moon day, according to the lunar calender it is the day when Buddha got enlighted under the Bodhi tree. On this day the people give extra water to this tree and pay their respects. For the people from Arakan State it is also the day to have special celebration: A wrestling match (for money and honour) is held inside the monestary. No the monks are not allowed to wrestle, but ordinary people are invited to join. See photos.

Afterwards I was invited to take a 'shower' with the nuns. Which means using a Tamee (women longhi, type of skirt) and throwing bowls of water over yourself. I did this in my dress as I not had a Tamee (yet), with everybody watching!! Afterwards it was time to put Tanaka (local suncreme from a root of a tree) on my face. I don't need it really, but it is fun to let them do it and have a laugh about how 'beautiful' I look ;-))

That evening I have long talks with my monk friend about monk life, the temtations he has to resists, the desire to try everything once in life anyway. I think every monk comes to a period in his life where he wonders: Do I still want to live my life as a monk? He is having trouble with this question at this moment in his life. The fact that he has fallen in love with me (how do I do that?) does not exactly make it more easy. So I decided to be direct and honest. I like him very much, but am not in love with him and even he decides to choose 'normal' life, this will not change. I hope he will find the right answer for himself as he is a great person with a good heart.

Read more: http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/foegoer/2007_asia_again/1177926360/tpod.html#_#ixzz1eLQdpS77

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