It was another glorious sunny day in the Shan State hills as I rode my bike over to Tat Ein village to take a new football and some badminton sets for the kids. But I wasn’t prepared for what greeted me upon arrival: a bunch of machete-armed monks!
Not to be alarmed, it was just a group of novice monks who were cutting, chopping, and sawing logs to make stacks of firewood, kindling used by many of the villagers for cooking. Like they do most of the time, these boys turned the chore into a fun activity, laughing and grinning while they worked. And of course they all wanted their photo taken too! Hey, don’t point that blade at me!
The group of aspiring lumberjacks wasn’t entirely comprised of novice monks, however. There was one adult male and two women, including a betelnut-chewing granny, who appeared to be the foreman of sorts, chastising any monk that wasn’t cutting the wood properly. And of course, the entire spectacle was attended/supervised by several giggling village children and the other novice monks too. Fun for the entire family!
