October 23rd, 2007 
Sheila Simkin Toe took us to Lat Kauk Zay Monastery knowing my love for old relics. The Head Monk is a personal friend of Toe, 66 years old and has spent 46 years in monk service. The Monastery was filled with Buddha images and other relics but Head Monk also had over 1,000 other Buddha images in a locked storeroom that he personally had been collecting for many years. The people of Myanmar practice Theravada Buddhism, the same as Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The three of us must have spent well over two hours sitting on the floor with Head Monk, admiring very ancient and rare images that he brought from the store room for us to see. One Buddha was worshiped by the King and many were over 1,000 year old.
While chatting, an older woman came into the monastery for a Libation Ceremony, prostating herself in front of Second-in-command Monk…View image… with water in memory of someone. And then another woman came in with a food offering while Head Monk said more prayers.
Enough Pagodas, Stupas and Monasteries for one day, Toe took us through a different, local Mrauk U village where five ladies, ages 65-80 years old were sitting around smoking pipes. They all had used plugs in their ears, starting at age 13 and were part of the Rakine-Thet minority….View image…
As if this wasn’t interesting enough, just driving around (and through Mrauk U) were multiple photo stops…for another Pagoda/Stupa view…
….the old city walls…
…and monks doing their daily washing…
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