Community of young (novice) monks

Quite a special morning today: we started a hike at 6.30 am from our hotel across the valley’s terraced rice fields towards a 16th century hilltop monastery with some 50 young novices. Most of them are orpheans or come from families unable to care for them. The hotel is supporting the monastery by enabling guests to have breakfast at 9 am with the novices (well, they had to get up at 4.30 am) and then giving a generous donation. We were seated with two boys, the younger only seven years old, with his older colleague we had interesting conversations about his and our life. 

When the breakfast was finished, some of the younger boys were preparing to leave for a few days by bus (provided by a near-by school). It was so cheerful to see them packing everything in and on top of the bus, that it had to become the blip of the day.