The king turned 87 on December 5th,
and Bangkok threw him one hell of a party.
The king even made an appearance, or, almost. His appearance was canceled at the last minute. Hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people wore yellow in honor of the king, and as you can see in the pictures, yellow is everywhere.
The king even made an appearance, or, almost. His appearance was canceled at the last minute. Hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people wore yellow in honor of the king, and as you can see in the pictures, yellow is everywhere.
Politics divides the citizens of Thailand,
with people fiercely loyal to either side. But the king, who has very
little power in the government, tends to stay away from politics.
Instead he goes around the country giving money to poor people and
creating projects that make jobs. You know, things the government
should be doing. So, while people may have different political
loyalties, they all love the king.
He commands great respect in the
country, and his face is EVERYWHERE. Just look at the people who turned out to see him. This picture below represents a TINY fraction of the people who went to honor the king. Seriously, to my left was a massive field, the size of three or four football fields- filled end to end with people.
Also, obligatory fireworks.
Side note: People often think of Bangkok as the place to come party and get drunk and be obnoxious. But that's really only with foreigners. Even though there were massive crowds, the locals were super respectful. I didn't see anyone drinking, and I didn't see anyone acting like an ass. I mean, come one, this is Thailand. Not Korea...
No comments:
Post a Comment