Novice monks - with 2 videos of drumming

Saturday Jan 30, 2010.
One of the things I love about Luang Prabang is the large number of novice monks around. Boys come from all around to be novice monks. They don’t have to be a monk for life - often they come for a few years, which serves the double purpose of enabling them to get an education and being an honour for their family. So in the course of a day here in Lung Prabang I see many novice monks - on my way to school in the morning, walking to a café for lunch, in classes (both at the Monk School and at other private schools as well). They swim in the river, climb Phousi hill, walk together to classes or their temples. Some carry umbrellas to keep the sun off of them.. And they participate in the daily drumming and chanting. There seem to be temples everywhere, and monks and novices live at the temples. At the temple around the corner from our guesthouse, they drum at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Here are some photos and video footage of two different drums, both on the same grounds (I think it’s two different temples). It is beautiful to watch and hear