Long Live the King

I'm cruising the down the streets of Bangkok, and I notice that there are portraits of the King in many different poses - King in a blue safari outfit with binoculars, King in formal regalia decked with medals, a young serious looking King - usually in an elaborate golden frame, of all different sizes, in front of banks, hotels, restaurants, shops, ginormous billboards at street corners, large temporary gateways spanning major streets, in essence, they are everywhere. Yellow banners (yellow being the color of the King) grace the lightpoles, flags flutter in neat rows on rooftoops and in front of buildings interspersed with the Thai flag, stickers grace the windows of taxicabs, and there are yellow bits of festivity everywhere, like the "Long Live the King" banner painted on the airport's aerobridge, and the same is printed on yellow-orange Lance Armstrong-ey rubber bracelets that people actually wear. Turns out the King's birthday was back in December, and the Thais celebrate it in a BIG way.

The King's elder sister also passed away this past Wednesday, and the nation is in mourning for a week. Flags are flown at half staff, there are full-page ads in the newspaper by major corporations expressing their condolences, and even the movie theaters have dedicated a page on their website to express their grief and sorrow. Photos of the late royal are selling very briskly, and I spotted a shop today that almost exclusively sold patriotic paraphernalia. Sadly for me, this also means that the Grand Palace is closed through the middle of next week, so I won't get to see it on this trip. The royal family's ashes are laid to rest in colorful stupas near the Wat Pho Temple, which also has the largest reclining Buddha statue that I've ever seen, entirely covered in gold, each toe bigger than my head. There are 99 stupas in all on the temple grounds, some as tall as a 15-storey building.

This outpouring of national affection for their royal family is touching. I cannot imagine that Americans could reach such an unanimous agreement on who to honor, much less go all out like this for any of our leaders, past or present, dead or alive.

Bangkok is a world apart from India. First, people seem to obey traffic laws, and the streets are not riddled with the cacophony of impatient horns. Third, English is hit or miss here, but fortunately I've learned a few choice phrases in Thai, and I'm getting good with hand gestures and their accompanying sound effects. For instance, I had to explain to our tour guide that I don't like to consume silk products because most of the silk coccoons are boiled, killing the silkworm inside, in order to extract one long silk thread to produce the smoothest fabric. I swirled my index finger around to indicate the silk coccoon, waved my fingers to signify water, and made bubbling noises to indicate boiling water. My sister ridicules me, but cannot deny that I get the point across and my illustrative method sometimes gets a few laughs. I much prefer this to her way of communicating, essentially repeating in loud English.