Tak Bat, the morning alms
Hundreds of monks in saffron cross the town at dawn to receive rice.
Duration
45 min – 1 hr
Best time
At first light, around 5.30am
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The tak bat is a daily ritual, not a performance: at dawn the monks of the city's monasteries file out to receive the sticky rice residents place in their bowls. It is their only food collection of the day.
It is given kneeling, lower than the monk, without meeting his eye and in silence. Tourist pressure has degraded the ritual to the point that the monasteries have threatened to abandon it: coaches arrive, flashes go off, and poor-quality rice is sold to visitors by middlemen. If you are not making an offering, watch from a distance and do not photograph close up.
Getting there
Along Sakkaline road and the streets of the historic centre. Nothing to book: be in the street before first light.
Hours
Around 5.30am, every day
What to bring
- Covering clothes
Rules on site
No flash, no close-ups, no arm thrust in front of the line: the monasteries have asked explicitly. Do not buy the rice sold in the street — it is often unfit, and the monks throw it away. Shoulders and knees covered.
