I was invited to the opening of a small restaurant yesterday. I didn’t know what to expect but as always I accept if there is no real reason not to; it’s almost always worth it. This certainly was.

When everyone had arrived, there would be a Buddhist ceremony to bless the restaurant. Five monks in orange robes and one nun in white presided. Everyone sat on the concrete floor except the monks who had ceremonial mats. I happened to sit directly across from the row of monks.

Just before the ceremony would begin, the host passed out drinks to the monks; they were given Fantas and Sprites in glass bottles. Sitting across a whole line of elderly monks in orange robes sipping orange Fanta from straws was just too good to be true. Calling it a Kodak moment would be an understatement. It was literally a National Geographic cover picture.

Of course a) I didn’t bring a camera and b) I would have been ceremonially killed if I had taken a picture. The latter is sort of a consolidation, even if it would have been a ‘to die for’ picture.

Oh, and the food was terrific.