CRAIG GIMA / CGIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Two elder monks rest on the U Bein's Bridge in Amarapura, billed as the longest teak bridge in the world.

A purity of purpose

Star-Bulletin staffer Craig Gima visited Myanmar in October and captured images of Buddhist monks living there

Monks are revered in the mainly Buddhist country of Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Most Buddhists there have spent some time as a monk. I was told that after the government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators led by monks in Myanmar, many of them took off their robes and went back to their home villages and that arrests of monks were continuing.

But there were still monks on the streets going about their morning rounds, collecting food, especially in the city of Mandalay where the majority of the country's monks live.

There's something about them and their aesthetic lifestyle that attracted me to take their pictures. Maybe its a purity of purpose that's reflected in their faces, a desire to live a good life in the service of others.

CRAIG GIMA / CGIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Young monks crowd onto a taxi during their morning rounds in Mandalay.

CRAIG GIMA / CGIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Young monks collect morning alms in Mandalay.

CRAIG GIMA / CGIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Boat races capture the attention of monks watching from the second story of a teak house in the town of Nyaungshwe in Inle Lake.

CRAIG GIMA / CGIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM A monk at a teak monastery on the way to Inle Lake.