When travelling through Myanmar you will see an overwhelming amount of monks. The majority will be wearing orange or brown robes, but some of them stand out because of the eye-catching pink robes and the orange sash worn over the left shoulder. The pink color represents sunshine and is designated for the nuns that are called “sila-rhan”, which means the keeper of morality. Usually, they leave their homes at an early age to live in the nunnery, where they spend their time servicing the community and engage in other activities such as teaching, meditating and studying. For the poorer amongst them, being a sila-rhan is a way to escape poverty, to become educated, and to have an honorable position in society.
These are the guys maintaining the Chaukhtatgyi Temple in Yangon, which is famous for the absurdly huge reclining Buddha. On the background it is the Buddha’s back that you are witnessing, completely covered in gold. All the maintenance work is completely funded by donations made to this temple.
