It was 1100 local time, and the young monk and his friends had just returned from their regular morning tour of the neighbourhood, collecting donations of food in their black alms bowls.
A sudden rainstorm had drenched many of them on their rounds, and a row of soaking brown, orange and maroon robes were hanging out to dry on a broad wooden balcony.
"We are organising," whispered another young monk, between mouthfuls of rice, as he sat on a mat in the dark dining room.
"We are planning more protests. People are angry about what has happened to our country, and about the way these thugs attacked us."
So far the government has done nothing to ease the situation. All they do is try to oppress protests... rather than come up with solutions to solve problems for the poor 
Democracy activist
On the wet street outside, a quiet crowd had gathered to wait for leftovers from the monastery.
Before long, ragged children and barefooted men were jostling for scraps.
In a country with alarmingly high childhood malnutrition rates - where a growing number of families are reduced to one meal a day - the monks are acutely aware of the suffering around them.
It is that suffering, along with resentment about the beating of individual monks by the authorities in earlier protests, which appears to have triggered this week's sustained campaign of street demonstrations.
Monks in Rangoon and across the country have marched in a direct and humiliating challenge to Burma's military authorities.
The monks' involvement has breathed new life into a campaign which began last month as a response to an abrupt fuel price rise, and which had been faltering following the arrest of more than 100 activists.
