Sunday, 5 December 2004
Today is the King's birthday. There have been special newscasts of celebrations all over the country. Today at 5:30 pm, we caught moto taxis to Sanam Chan, the palace in our town where the parade was to begin. Many schools were there, bands, and people in uniform. Our school wore our bright yellow shirts, since yellow is the color for the king. Similarly, for the Queen's birthday in August, we all wore blue shirts for her color. The king's birthday is also Father's Day here, although similar to American culture, Mother's Day tends to get more attention than Father's Day. Plus, many fathers here in Thai culture are the breadwinners, but do not live with their wives and children. Many are thus absent from their children's lives.
We walked through the blocked off streets of Nakhon Pathom, and headed to Ong Phra, the chedi. Along the way, staff members were running to join our group. It was amusing because many of our staff members were late and our lines were all off. All the other groups looked so "parade-like", and our group looked like a bunch of girls gabbing away. We got to the chedi, sung the Thai national anthem, the king's song, lit yellow candles, and watched beautiful fireworks.
Afterwards, I went to dinner with some teacher friends at a nice restaurant. Tomorrow is a national holiday for the king's birthday. I plan on sleeping in late, relaxing, and perhaps doing some schoolwork.
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