It’s called "Making Merit" and it’s a way for the common Buddhist person to do a good deed. Every morning at dawn in Luang Prabang the Buddhist monks leave their wats to walk the streets with their begging bowls and receive their daily sustenance from the people. I’m not sure how long this has been going on, I know that Buddhists have had begging bowls for millennia, but the tradition in Luang Prabang at dawn is quite the tourist attraction. These monks are well-fed, believe me. And well-photographed, too.