
Once a year, a celebration is held in the Maha Bodhi Tahtaung monastery on the outskirts of Monywa. Young boys, painted with makeup and dressed extravagantly, are carried through the monastery on the shoulders of local men, eating their favourite foods from a bowl they carry as the parade winds its way through the monastery grounds. Tomorrow, these boys will become monks - this is their last celebration of worldly pleasures for now.