Thailand

As takes place in many monasteries in the area, each morning, the novice monks leave the school, walk the streets and gather alms from the locals.  They carry metal bowls but toward the end of their journey, they can be seen carrying plastic supermarket bags as well.

Almost exclusively, the alms are food, water and flowers.  One makes an offering on one’s knees and gets a blessing from the novice accepting the alms.

We saw this ritual throughout Chiang Mai each morning, and it was quite an intimate and personal experience.