mourning the loss of a princess
Sunday, January 20th, 2008here in thailand one thing that is very dear to peoples’ hearts is the king and the royal family. you do not make jokes about the king, and it is even illegal to step on money (although i doubt it’s much enforced) because all currency bears pictures of the king. you see pictures of him everywhere – every store, every home, even in cabs, etc. they all really love him! here’s a picture of the king so you can see what we’re seeing all over the place!
the king’s elder sister, princess Galyani Vadhana (also in the picture above), passed away on January 2nd, and the country is in mourning now… everywhere you go you’ll see pictures of her and tributes to her. thai websites often start off with a page showing her image before you go into the site itself. i’ve seen books for sale that are full of pictures of her life and the things she has done.
when we visited the grand palace on sunday, there were hundreds of thai there to pay their respects because the princess’s body shall remain there for the public to view for 100 days of mourning. everyone dresses in black or white, and like all thai temples, you must be covered to show respect, so no bare shoulders and longer skirts or pants are required. jess and i dressed properly, but it was SOOOO hot! we saw people on their way to or from paying respects, but we were having a hard time finding our way around to the hall itself, so we didn’t go in this time, but we may try again later.
sorry it isn’t too clear but you can sort of see a little bit of what it’s like through this video of a cab ride through the area of the grand palace. the trees are all lit with beautiful christmas lights to honor the princess. aung said that normally they light them for the king’s birthday only, but this time they are mourning for the princess:
malia