Let me see your glasses

Elder Bhudda with Nicks Glasses
Originally uploaded by Aishihik

Every day at 4:00 AM and 4:00 PM monks pound on giant drums and clang on gamelans. It feels like the monks from each temple are talking to each other through the powerful sound of percussion. While waiting for the young monks to arrive at the drum shelter an elder monk approached us. Pointing at my face and nodding with a smile it was explained the elder wanted to try on my glasses. Carefully he put them on glancing this way and that way and then politely hands them back to me. Then, directly looking at Nick he points to his glasses. Once again he carefully places the glasses on his face and immediately smiles – He can see! As luck or karma would have it, Nick had two pairs of the exact same reading glasses. The decision was easy – as we left the temple grounds and looked back over our shoulder we saw a very happy man.