The King's Birthday in Bangkok

As we've mentioned before, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej is a revered and loved figure throughout Thailand. He has been in power since 1946, and is the longest reigning monarch in Thai history, and the longest serving head of state in the world. He's also a renaissance man, being a painter, author, jazz musician and composer, sailor and sailboat designer, inventor, photographer, and industrial developer. He is also fantastically wealthy, with Forbes putting his net worth around $35 billion (although this is disputed by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs). So, the King's birthday is a big deal...


Dec 5

As we've mentioned before, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej is a revered and loved figure throughout Thailand. He has been in power since 1946, and is the longest reigning monarch in Thai history, and the longest serving head of state in the world. He's also a renaissance man, being a painter, author, jazz musician and composer, sailor and sailboat designer, inventor, photographer, and industrial developer. He is also fantastically wealthy, with Forbes putting his net worth aroud $35 billion (although this is disputed by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

So, the King's birthday is a big deal. It all starts when you get dressed in the morning. Yellow is the King's color, because he was born on a Monday, so on his birthday, people wear yellow to show respect for the King. At least they used to. Now they wear pink, but no one told us, so we were all prepared with yellow shirts, only to go outside and finding everyone wearing pink. It turns out that the King was hospitalized in 2007, and when he left the hospital, he wore a bright pink blazer, which sparked a national trend to wear pink for the King's health. Danny did manage to find a fun pink shirt from a vendor just outside the hotel, so he ended up being appropriately attired.

King's birthday attire, from Thailand - Bangkok

Decorations are put up all over the city, including special portraits of the king, and a pair of urns, one gold and one silver, in front of most of the existing portraits. The main celebrations are downtown, where Ratchadamnoen, one of the main roads, is shut down for roughly a kilometer and lined with various booths and exhibits. As with most Thai festivals, this goes on for several days. We caught the tail end of one day (around midnight) when we happened to end up near the festivities after seeking out a famous pad thai restaurant. We came back the next day for more pad thai, and the main event.

At one end of the road, a six story government building was covered with huge decorations. A laser generated portrait of the king is projected on the building, and later in the night, fireworks are launched from the top of it. Across the street in one direction is a big stage, which holds continuous performances for at least 5 hours - singers, dancers, and drummers. In another direction is a large park which has been filled with works showing tributes to the king, including a huge rotating crystal cube filled with video projectors.

King's birthday decorations, from Thailand - Bangkok

Up and down the street a parade of lighted floats slowly circles. Some of these floats I recognized, like a recreation of the royal barge. Others are a bit stranger, like giant Easter-like bunnies, and a pair of cartoonish atomic scientists in what looks like an old camping trailer. The center of the road is filled with temporary fountains, and the sides of the road are various booths and exhibits. Some of these are embassies from around the world, others are government booths selling commemerative items, others are displays of projects that have benefitted from His Majesty's support, and others just seem to be displays.

Floats at the King's birthday, from Thailand - Bangkok

The entire area is packed with people, 90% of which are wearing pink. In the center, at the Democracy Monument, there's another stage with more singers and musicians and a bunch of electronically controlled spotlights shooting into the sky. At the far end, there's a third stage, which stars what might be Thai rock musicians. Of course, all the speaking and singing is in Thai, and with a couple exceptions all the printed text was in Thai too, so it was hard to decipher things. During all of this, fireworks would be shot off at apparently random intervals. All in all, it was quite a bit of chaos, and a fun birthday party.

King's birthday, from Thailand - Bangkok