After a mourning period of a year, King Bhumibol Adulyadej was said goodbye to King Bhumibol Adulyadej yesterday in Bangkok. Around 200.000 mourners had gathered at the royal crematorium and millions of Thais followed the ceremonies on TV, almost every Thai was dressed in black.
The ceremony started early in the morning with a Buddhist ritual at the Royal Palace in Bangkok. A large part of the Thai population was free to honor the deceased king. The urn was transferred from the Throne Room in the palace to the royal crematorium. This happened in a large procession of carriages, accompanied by thousands of soldiers.
The accompanying courtiers and royal officials, dressed in colorful ceremonial dress, walk in the so-called 'dern lien thao pas', a slow sliding movement in which the foot is lifted no more than an inch off the ground to the solemn beat of the drums of the army band . The parade over a distance of 1 kilometer takes 2 hours.
There were numerous members of royal families, including Queen Máxima. She represents the Netherlands.
Ceremony with royal highnesses and dignitaries, who would later place sandalwood cremation flowers in the crematorium. In the third row Queen Máxima (second from the right). Next to her Queen Mathilde of Belgium.The final cremation at 22.00 p.m. was not shown on television. According to insiders, the urn in the Chakri Maha Prasat Throne in the Grand Palace, where millions of Thais said goodbye to the monarch, was empty. According to reports on social media, the king's remains were placed in a coffin and were taken to Sanam Luang on Wednesday evening.
King Vajiralongkorn collected Bhumibol's remains and ashes on Friday morning and took them to the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace. On Saturday, the king will lead a ceremony in the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall and pay the last respects to the remains. On Sunday, the remains go to the Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall and the ashes to two temples.
The military government of Thailand earmarked almost 77 million euros for the ceremony.
Source: Bangkok Post
I watched the Thai channels almost all day yesterday. The sadness of the people, who said goodbye to their king dressed in black in heat and rain, was great and real. But I also saw a certain despair, uncertainty and confusion: what now?
What a difference with all those people in uniform who showed little or no emotion. Although… there is a video showing Prime Minister Prayut crying as he walked with the urn in the procession.
You see what was not there to see. The PM did not cry but sweat.
Those 200.000 are only in Bangkok, but in almost every city or village, in temples or replicas of the crematorium, the king was said goodbye, just like in the town where I live, in the middle of the Isan, with 40.000 inhabitants (450 km from Bangkok), where many people from surrounding villages came to the city with busloads and truck bodies full of people, an estimated 60.000 mourners.
I myself stood in line for more than five hours to say goodbye to the King, luckily they had placed a shelter above the waiting rows for the sun, more than enough bottles of water were handed out for free and cotton balls with 'ea de cologne' in front of the nose , there were also some chairs so that you could sit down now and then, it was a very boring waiting time with many old and young people all dressed in black, but I did not hear any complaint from the Thai people around me.
They wrote on the NOS site that people almost only mourned in Bangkok, because they had been in contact with some Dutch tourists who were on holiday in popular seaside resorts and they hardly noticed the mourning process.
Also at the NOS they still have to learn that Thailand is bigger than the Netherlands and there is more than just Bangkok and some popular seaside resorts, Thailand is about the same size as France with 60.000.000 inhabitants, of which many have certainly mourned in Isan.
This is as if King's Day in the Netherlands is only celebrated in Amsterdam, because the tourists in Scheveningen, Zandvoort and Hoek van Holland hardly notice it on the beach.
Although I think Queen Maxima is a nice woman, yesterday during the live broadcast she showed little restraint. Laughing and chattering are not appropriate and show little respect for the Thai people. Fie!
I noticed that too and it bothered me too! But on the other side? Just that one TV shot of Maxima saying something to her neighbour.
There were many more high-ranking guests talking to each other, I even saw business cards being exchanged.
I too was busy all day yesterday mourning the deceased Thai king.
My wife had a function in mourning and I participated in it.
Where we live, Thoen/Lampang, thousands of people were on their feet to say goodbye personally, for hours (12 consecutive hours) there is every minute with a number of 10 people, organized bowing and kneeling in front of a large portrait of the deceased last year king.
I was the only falang (out of 5 who live here) who participated in the personal farewell. Shame.
Impressive and real.
Incredibly many people in uniform.
All in all an impressive event.
And like everything in Thailand: also cozy, with respect, but also eating and drinking together.
Where it comes from? An abundance of food, cold water and drinking yoghurt, rice meals and “raisin buns”.
An important and beloved king in the history of modern Thailand is no more.
It was incredibly impressive to see how an entire nation mourns intensely for a special monarch. If everything that has been shown and said on TV about this man in recent weeks is true, then he deserves this appreciation and such a farewell, but hey, what now??? Who is going to bring the parties together now? resolve conflicts and help people in rural areas with their problems?? The future will tell!!!
Of course I also followed the cremation ceremony on TV. Not all day to be honest. I found it to be boring at times and there was also an overload of information. Personally, I am not that interested in the shape of the decorations, their symbolism, from which period the motif originates and at which cremation in the past that motif was or was not used. I hear it but forget it at the same time. Just like 99% of Thais, I think.
The month of October was dedicated to the cremation. Unlike Tino, I have not seen so much sadness at all and I mean at work, on the street and in my Thai neighborhood. Of course the tears are shown on TV because emotion does it right (for the eyes of the people). But I haven't seen anyone cry in my neighborhood or at work this month, not even on October 26. I have seen much, much more respect for the deceased king. That seems right and normal to me. Last year, after his passing, there were many tears and sadness. But after a year, that sadness usually turns into respect and perhaps even joy that this Thailand has had such a king.
There was also much more despair, confusion and uncertainty last year. In my neighborhood the Thais gathered to exchange ideas about what could (or could) happen. Opinions ranged from riots, demonstrations, a counter-coup to civil war. None of that happened. After a few weeks, perhaps months, despair and confusion are gone. Not even now. Just Indian stories. In my neighborhood life continues as before October 13, 2016. It is 'life as usual'.
The Thais did not know and still do not know what goes on behind the scenes. Just rumours, as always. And each interested party makes its own rumours, as has always been the case.
The late king has apparently organized his legacy in such a way that he is still (and will be) the binding factor in this country. The only difference is that he now works from heaven. His son helps him with the performance.