There he was waving down traffic . A little darling of a monk hitchhiking in 40+ temperatures all on his own - we couldn't believe our eyes! We were in the middle of nowhere between Mandalay and Bagan and he was just a tiny dot of red with an alms bowl almost as big as himself and outstretched arm flagging us down.

 A quick plea to our lovely guide A Kay and her immediate response saw our bus and a motorbike pull up to give our little hitchhiking monk a lift, A Kay prevailed. He looked around 4 years of age which is younger than the average novice age of 9, yet this little Monk was in the robes of the fully ordained. He was probably an orphan taken in by the monks, but charged with the same duties of older monks of collecting alms in the morning for the midday (and last for the day, as they fast after midday) meal.

He sat up front in the bus, clutching a stuffed toy and seemingly unfazed by the attention. My guess is he was loving the cool of the bus aircon! A Kay handed his alms bowl around so we could add some food to his pot, already heavy with curries and vegetables. I had the backpacker's iconic snack on board of "Laughing Cow" cheese and popped some in his pot. Others donated biscuits and crisps they had with them. 

About 6 kms further down the road  at a dusty intersection, he called to A Kay that we had arrived at his road. There was no signpost but a pagoda was just discernible in the distance . Our little hitchhiker purposefully climbed down from the bus and with his legs almost buckling under the weight of the (now heavier) pot, he set off down the track. Oh what a story he would have to tell! Would he be believed? A bus full of foreigners giving him a lift and filling his alms pot?  

We arrived to Bagan, richer for our experience of meeting our monk along the way and set off filling the next two days with exploration of some of the 2,000 temples that remain of the 4,000 that once dotted this area up until 1287 and the Mongol invasions. We also got to know an amazing vegetarian restaurant, quaintly called "Be Kind to Animals the Moon" . Our explorations were enacted in 40+ heat and on the 2nd day it maxed at 45 degrees! We had a pool back at our hotel, but even that was a bit too warm to enjoy. Other experiences in Bagan included visiting a busy market, learning how beetle-nut is prepared and seeing the labour intensive art of lacquerware production. Many Buddhas,temples, and "shoe taking off places" later, it is time to move to cooler (hopefully) climes as our next stop is Kalaw an old British Hill station, high in Myanmar's food producing mountains.