Our King

At regular points on any road there will be a portrait of the Thai monarch - King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-serving monarch. And we're not talking about a small picture, but usually massive with gold adornments and lots of flowers and plants at the base. A lot of the portraits are of him alone, but sometimes it will be of him with the queen and even more rarely with the queen and their (now grown-up) children. When people talk about him they will say 'our king' not 'the king' and you'll regularly see vans or trucks with the words 'Long live the King' on them. King Bhumibol has long been seen as the only unifying figure in a nation that has seen at least 24 prime ministers, 17 constitutions and more than a dozen military coups during his 63-year reign. He is widely respected among the Thai people - and he is sometimes accorded an almost divine reverence. There are also quite serious consequences for not affording the King proper respect. Even the handling of paper money is done in a way not to damage the King's image. When we went to see a film in Bangkok, the whole audience rose to hear/sing the national anthem at the beginning. I have also heard (but not witnessed) that everything stops at 8am, noon and 6pm for the national anthem as well, I have been assured this is the case but I can't believe that we haven't been out in public at these times to see it. Here's an interesting article about the King