After a gruesome bus journey, we finally made it to the town of Kyaukse at 4 am. Famous for its Kyaukse Elephant Dance, this is the hometown of Missy's father.
We would spend the next 2 days here witnessing a traditional Burmese Buddhist procession called the Ah-hlu. The Ah-hlu basically is a celebration that is held for a family when they donate generously to the local Buddhist monastery. Missy's youngest uncle had recently donated and held the Ah-hlu procession also to send his sons to become monks at the monastery. This is a traditional rite of passage for all Burmese Buddhists boys to show their coming of age. They typically spend a minimum of 3 days at a monastery to follow and learn from the monks. For me, it was truly an honour to be able to witness such a procession as I have never seen anything close to that before.
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Young girls take part in the procession too! Ear piercing ceremony is the rite of passage for girls.
