Buddhist alms-giving ceremony in Sangkhla Buri (Kanchanaburi Province)

The quiet town of Sangkhla Buri lies in the mountains bordering Myanmar, on the upper end of Khao Laem Lake. 

Although this is still Thailand, the influence of the Burmese culture prevails within this community. On the one hand, there are many

Myanmarese migrant workers here due to the proximity of the border (about 20km away at the Three Pagodas borderline); but on the other hand, a Mon community lives across the town in a village known as Wangkha.

The Mons are former refugees from Burma, who came here a few decades ago and have now settled in Thailand under the royal protection.

But it happened that one of the monks in the community, called Phara Uttama, became one of the most respected monks in the country. He first built Wat Wang Wiwekaram and later initiated the construction of the wooden bridge known as the Mon Bridge.

As this monk is still highly respected among the Mon community as well as the Thais, the morning alms-giving has become a well-known daily ceremony here.

The beauty is that it has kept all its original authenticity as only the Mons and the Thais attend the ceremony here. It is traditional for the Thais to get the Mon red-and-blue garments to participate in the morning’s alms-giving. And the Mon community displays its own culture in a way that remains authentic. Needless to say that it is a highly colorful ceremony, which is a good source of revenue for the Mon community as all shops provide the food to buy for the monks, but also displays some traditional Burmese artifacts as well as providing food and drinks to people.

The only other place I know in Southeast Asia, where this ceremony is truly spectacular is Luang Prabang, in Laos. But there, it has now become a tourist attraction, whereas, in Sangkhla Buri, it has remained an authentic ceremony.

Christian Sorand