At Tha Thewet, I watched a man named Yong feed pigeons like it was a pilgrimage. The price for taking his picture was to hear his story. Yong lived in Bangkok but sold trinkets in Pattaya. When his only son died of lung cancer, he sought solace as a monk in a nearby monastery for six months last year. I dreaded the moralistic punchline to his parable-like story. But he left it at that. Yong told me to come and live in Bangkok. I didn't feel the need to ask why.