"Long Live the King" & Cruisin the Chao Praya

December 5^th marks the King's birthday, and celebrate Thailand does. During the week leading up to his birthday, carnivals and posters of the King & his wife were erected and hung around towns. Tagged on taxis and cars were “Long Live the King!” slogans. We got Monday off of school to honor his birthday. I heard the Thais went even more “all out” than in previous years, particularly because the King is ill and currently hospitalized.

The King is like a god here, so much so that on his birthday, Thais also celebrate Father's Day. I heard that the Grand Palace would be decked out in dazzling offerings to His Majesty and that it was a sight worth checking out, but I never got around to it.

What I did do during the week leading up to the King's birthday, though, included teaching action verbs at school (oh boy) and then taking pictures of the students with their Father's Day crafts. My favorite one is below:

[drats. i must rotate it, but it says "he is tall. he is fat. i love father." haha! my student's hilarious.]

On Friday, the day before the King's birthday, our school hosted an assembly during which the hundreds of Thai kids bowed, chanted, and prayed to an enlarged poster of the King while teachers and admins gave offerings to him. It was quite incredible because Americans would never do such a thing.

[us with Chawewa, Amnuayvidhya's Head Mistress]

I learned a lot about the King while browsing a gallery of info posters that the Thai teachers had made about the King. Why his country reveres, worships, and loves him so became quite understandable to me, because he is a genius and quite the role model. Taking the throne in his twenties, the King accomplished much in both his personal and public life, from learning to play three instruments (guitar, piano, saxophone); sailing in his free time; writing three books (can you imagine!); drawing and painting; taking care of his dogs; introducing radio communications to his country; and implementing systems to improve agriculture and sustainability, among many others. I'm too lazy right now to check how old he turned, but he's in his 80s, and, as mentioned, is hospitalized due to old age. He has a son who is positioned to take the throne.

I got to see where the King is hospitalized on Thursday, when Linnea, Joanna, Tor, and I went on a dinner cruise around the Chao Praya river at night. It's a pretty big thing for tourists to do and I highly recommend it! Our three-hour cruise was peaceful and the night air was absolutely perfect. Tor arranged for us to sit on the top deck level so we had full-on views of the Grand Palace, Wat Arun, the King's hospital, and the majestic Chao Praya bridge, all of which were splendidly lit up. Adding to the night were the live music, traditional Thai dancers, and of course, the food. There were rolls (ooh, carbs that aren't rice or noodles!)!

Thursday was also great because I got to see my best friend, Kimmy's, mom, Mrs. Ishikawa! She's in Thailand on a family trip and stopped by with a gift from home. Luckily she's Thai and owned a restaurant, so when she took me out to dinner, she knew the right things to order. :)