I love the photo on the wall.

The essentials -- tea, and a mat to sleep on. Yes.

Great how the sun shines inside, it gives the monks a mystic look.

Much less Spartan than I would have guessed...

Photographs from your travel are very interesting. This one looks like you've tried to set the exposure for grabbing the details inside the room and that is done well but it has overexposed the light streaming in from the windows... seems a little too harsh. Maybe the window blinds needed to be covered a little bit? Just a personal opinion.

It's very interesting that their clothing and trappings are all vividly colorful. Their environment and surroundings are almost monotone. I agree with Sinnick - I'm surprised that their surroundings are less spartan than you'd expect. As a photographer, I've been known to rearrange items that might appear in a frame, but I'd feel very strange asking someone to close the curtains so that I could get a better exposed frame. Sometimes you just have to take 'em as you get 'em.