Monday, January 5, 2015

A Priest, a Monk and Joko Walk Into a Cave

Merry Christmas!

Okay, today is the 13th Day of Christmas, and so this greeting is a bit late, but I'm still catching up on editing the videos from the long trip.

I spent Christmas morning at the Catholic Church of Hpa An, Kayin State.  There was a lot the familiar at the church.  Prayers, rituals, etc., but there were some uniquely Burmese things about the service as well.  Note the horn symbols - that's a Kayin thing.



Also kind of odd are the clocks on either side of the altar.  Usually, the front of the church is for sacred things, right?  There were a pair of clocks adjacent to the cross.  When people got bored in church, it did keep them rudely looking at their watches, so it does have some purpose. 

After church, I drove out of town to visit a couple sacred Buddhist caves.

Like many sites in SE Asia, the macacques were out in force.  I don't think local vendors were offering proper snack choices for the visitors to feed the monkeys, but I can't help but love this picture.  The way he's holding the bag is like he's shooting a commercial.  Macacques everywhere prefer Blue Dolphin Brand shrimp chips!  It's no Monkey Business!


Enjoy the video.

2 comments:

  1. When there are a lot of buddhas (or crosses, ritual swords, anything) in a row, it looks like they are for sale. Probably not the case for any of the buddhas in today's video, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Buddhas look so peaceful. Much better than a Christ on the cross.

    ReplyDelete

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