Today is the big day. I took some time in the morning to shower and pack up. The bag that I will be taking to Chiang Mai with me is getting surprisingly heavy though. I hope it will be alright for the flight.

Many from the extended family turned up for the event. I really didn’t know that it was such an occasion for Thai people. A part of me wanted it to be a quiet and simple affair, follow some ceremonies, don the robes and say good bye to my parents for a while. The workers and people nearby got involved in walking around the sāla (a hall, usually used in the monastic context) later as well at the beginning of the event.

It started off simply enough, with breakfast at 7am followed by an event involving getting everyone in the family to snip a little bit of my hair. Then a monk shaved my hair completely, a task made simpler by the earlier proceedings. Unfortunately there were cuts but Pa (dad) had a spray which really helped with the bleeding. The monk also shaved my eyebrows and applied what I think was turmeric all over my head. Afterwards the whole family helped with the cleaning the stuff off my head and body.

I then got changed into Chud Nak which is clothing worn during the first half of the ceremony. My cousin K. helped with carrying an umbrella and Mae (mum) a big basket of offerings, we went around the various shrines around the monastery to pay respects with incense and lotus flowers.

Afterwards alongside the whole family plus a congregation of students playing traditional Thai musical instruments, we walked around the main monastery hall three times. Then I had to go up to the top of the stairs of the hall and throw Proy Tan (small gift bags containing small coins) down to everyone else gathered below to collect it. I felt a little bad because these bags were rather heavy and could’ve caused some real damage if they landed on someone’s head unexpectedly. I had no idea what this part of the ceremony was about. The whole thing was so bizarre at the time that I didn’t think much of it and carried on throwing the bags up in the air until I had none left.

When it came to the ceremony itself, it was just like how we practised the day before. However whenever the preceptor monk spoke, he spoke for a really long time. At the beginning he was also using his phone as well which was a little awkward. Also I was surrounded by other monks for the event and at the beginning, on hearing that I came from the UK one asked which football team I supported. These things really helped me to relax.

I remembered most of the lines and was only a little nervous at the beginning. But I did have to change pose multiple times as sitting on my knees and toes got painful throughout the ceremony. When a junior monk helped put on the robes for me, he noted that these were typical forest monk robes and they were twice as thick as the robes used by monks in the cities. I guess I probably won’t be able to survive this ordeal past March even if I wanted to.

Before, during and after the ordination there were lots and lots of photos. Photo taking seems to be a thing with Thai people but this time as the object of interest and as a monk, there wasn’t much that I could really do.

When everyone left, it was back to business as usual again. The only difference now was that I was a monk. It didn’t feel any different obviously, other than that I had no hair nor underwear. People seemed obliged now to pay respects to me because I’m in the ochre robe which is very awkward. I spent the rest of the afternoon messaging friends abroad and letting them know about the situation while I still had access to my phone.

What I also needed to get used to was cleaning the plates as soon as I finished with them during the meal. The other monks seemed to only use tissue and water and avoided eating oily foods as it would be harder to clean.

When it came to evening chanting it was the same as before, other than that as a monk I had to wear the full robes. It stayed together well at first but came apart as soon as I sat down. It will take some practice. For now I must practice the blessing to give to people on the alms round should they ask me. I also need to tell the abbot tomorrow that my name was spelt incorrectly on the monk certificate.

I will look to use initials instead of full names for people who aren’t my direct family in case of privacy concerns.