The Royal Funeral

We are in the middle of six day pageant in memory of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarinda. She is the “pie sow” or older sister of the king. Even though she died last January and we lowered the flag for her everyday and had a moment’s silence and so on, the royal cremation ceremony (ies) are only taking place now. Why? Because they had to do it right! They built Thra Merumas or the cremation building within the Grand Palace and after the four days of ceremony it will be taken down.

Yesterday, I spent the day with hundreds of thousands of others roaming around the Grant Palace area trying to take it all in. I did not see the royal procession from Dusit Maha Prasat Throne hall to the Royal Cremation Ground at Sanam Luang, a park across the road from the Grand Palace, but there were huge screens up everyone for all to see. People waited for hours standing by the side of the road only to catch a brief glimpse of the king and queen as they drove past on their way to the ceremony.

Lucky for me, as usual, I got lost and ended up at the assembly area. If you look at my pictures, you will see all of the dignitaries assembling on the parade grounds about four kilometers from the Grand Palace to be taken by bus to the ceremonies. They were all fully decked out in their regalia with their complete entourage. I took a picture of the prime minister and his henchmen and woman and another group of impressive looking people. When they saw I was wearing a York University shirt they told me they were responsible for higher education in Thailand and had worked with York through a CIDA project many years ago. I just wished I was fast enough to ask for an interview with them later in the week since I would love to be stationed in Bangkok. Travelling is fun, but it would be nice to be in one place so I don’t have to pre- think when I am going to get my laundry done so I will have enough clothes to wear on my travels!

What was also interesting was that 2 German ladies were lost and wanted to get to the train station. I acted as the translator between these women and some Thais which was really impressive, I thought. Then a Dutch couple came over and asked me where Gucci was. That was too much for me and I got out of there as quickly as possible before I was inundated with thousands of other questions I could not answer.

The pageantry, I discovered, was really just an excuse for a great party and celebration of Thai history and culture. As usual, roads were closed, food stands appeared out of nowhere and whole families were celebrating. Even the police got into the action and took pictures (of themselves) and others, joked with the crowd and seemed to be having a lot of fun. I did catch some mourners in prayer or meditation, but not many.

I joined the celebration in my own way, which was to take a ferry down to the Sheraton hotel and have a sumptuous buffet overlooking the river.

When in Rome…