Bangkok - Father's Day

His Majesty the King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, is the world's longest-reigning monarch currently alive. December 5th is his birthday and Thais celebrate that in a big way, e.g., with boat processions, singing contests, decorative lights on main thoroughfares etc etc

I took a few snapshots on or near Ratchadamnoen Klang on December 3rd.

His Majesty is in fact considered the great father of the Thai people and is thus like the main character in „The Story of Mahajanaka“ written by His Majesty the King.

The Story of Mahajanaka is a story about perseverance, one of the 10 principal virtues practised by a Bodhisattva, and how it brought progress and prosperity to King Mahajanaka’s city.

The story was released in 1996 and contains metaphoric messages that held a special and timely relevance to the economic downturn in the aftermath of the „Baht Crisis“ of 1997. Scholars and social thinkers noted that the royal literary piece provided important guidelines for living in a society seemingly driven by greed, anger and ignorance. The story reinforced the King's visions of self-reliance and his formula for economic self sufficiency.

Surin - Elephant Round-up

The 50th annual Elephant Round-up was held in Surin on November 20th and 21st. It is a three-hour show repeated twice each of the two days.

The shows have 2,000 human participants and 300 elephants performing in six “acts” or processions.

The acts include stylistic re-enactments of the establishment of Surin as a town under the protection of the Siamese king and of the round-up and catching of wild elephants in the forests along the current day border of Thailand and Cambodia.

I had unfortunately not thought about booking my ticket in advance so I got seated to the far left of the Surin Elephant Show Stadium. Consequently, the few pictures I took definitely do not give full credit to how impressive the show was.

So, if you plan to go, book your ticket in advance, e.g., through the Tourism Authority of Thailand, before going to the “elephant town” of Surin.