Every Thai is expected to spent time as a Buddhist novice or a monk in a monastery. Boys of roughly the same age group gather in the monastery of their choice for a two day ritual, here in the Wat Lok Molee of Chiang Mai. On the first day, dressed in white, they are initiated into the teachings of the Buddha. On the second they are paraded, on the back of pick-up trucks, in the city to commemorate the passing of Prince Gautama into the Lord Buddha.

They are then presented with their saffron robes by their kin, many of them with teary eyes, as the ritual is also a rite of passage for the young...