The King's Birthday Party

December 5 was the King's birthday. It is a national holiday. In fact, I get Monday off work since his birthday falls on Saturday...no complaints here! So, I decided to go and see what kind of festivities would be taking place by the Grand Palace. I took off in the early afternoon and decided to walk to the metro station instead of taking the skytrain one stop where it links up with the metro. On my walk I discovered some new shops. My favorite was a fair trade handicrafts fair. I decided to take the detour. I went into the air-conditioned building (always a nice break) and found some very beautiful handicrafts made by a variety of artists ranging from people with disabilities, women who had escaped the sex trade to a variety of Thai ethnic groups . I wandered around and decided this was a great place to purchase some Christmas gifts so I made some purchases (I'm not telling but whoever is getting gifts from here is super lucky!!!) and after my shopping adventure I stopped for an Italian lunch.

With bags now in hand I decided to head back to my apartment to unload and head out again. This time I actually made it to the metro station. I reached the last stop on the metro line and started walking. I had a general idea of the direction I needed to head. After meandering through the less than poetic streets I found myself in a flurry of activity! I kept walking and realized that I had reached a HUGE market in the heart of Chinatown. I started off walking through the meats, fish, veggies and before I knew it I was surrounded by cheesy, plastic, bulk items. You know, the kinds of cheesy things you always wonder "who buys this stuff anyway?" We're talking Hello Kitty items...and worse! wow! I just kept walking. For blocks and blocks this stuff went on and on! Finally I found my way out. Then I'm surrounded by tuk-tuk drivers who want to know where they can take me. "No thanks" I kept telling them as I continued to walk.

My first hint that I was reaching my destination was seeing buses packed full of people wearing pink shirts. You see, the King was born on a tuesday and the color of tuesday is pink so everyone wore pink shirts to show their love for their king. Many Thais only know this one king since he has been reining for over 60 years! Pretty amazing. I just started following the buses and people walking on the streets. Before I knew it I had reached the Grand Palace. The streets outside the palace were packed with people. School bands were marching and playing, street vendors were making a killing but didn't seem to have jacked their prices up as is normally done in the US.

At a major street I saw a huge crowd of people so I thought I'd join them to see what it was all about. We stood around for at least 20 minutes. I figured we must be waiting for the king to drive by. Then people started moving. There was a group of guys near me. One said to me in English, "we must go this way, follow us". Grateful to hear English I did as I was told and followed him. We didn't walk far before the military halted us and barricaded us again. My friend started speaking to me. "Did you come with someone?" I answered that I was alone. "Are you bored?" I told him no, that I was just interested in seeing the celebration. I found out that he was Cambodian. He had come to Thailand 6 months earlier to work. He had been able to get a job at a fine furniture factory where he made $5/day. This is better than he could have done in Cambodia. He lives with his sister and her family. He was so happy to have found someone to practice his English with. He says he learned English during his 4 years as a monk but hadn't had a chance to speak it for a long time. I told him I was happy to let him practice with me. He told me that he now spoke good Thai and that it was not difficult to learn. That gave me hope until he reminded me that Cambodian and Thai have many similarities. Then he grabbed my wrist and we joined the throngs of people crossing the street. You mean to tell me that all that waiting was just to cross the street? Indeed it was. But across the street was where the festivities were. I stuck with my 3 Cambodian friends (only 1 spoke English) and we stood around with the 20,000+ other people in the area. My friend stuck with me while his 2 friends disappeared for a bit and returned with cold drinks for all. How could I allow these guys who earn $5/day to buy me a drink? I offered to pay for mine but they wouldn't hear of it. I learned a lesson in selflessness and hospitality.

At last the festivities began. There were a few speeches, none of which I understood, and then everyone began singing and holding candles. Again, i have no idea what they were singing. I'm assuming one of the songs was the national anthem. Then there was gleeful shouting and then the fireworks began. The fireworks were set off from about 3-4 different locations. They were big and beautiful and numerous! It was all fun and games until the ash started falling and my eyes filled with ash...not conducive to contact lenses. There were lots of "aaahhhh"s and "ooohhh"s.

After the fireworks my friends and I began making our way through the crowds. In a large open field several stages had been set up with different performances. We weaved our way through the packed crowds (not an easy task) to the traditional Thai music stage. That didn't hold my guy friends' interest for long so then we pushed our way back through the crowds to the kickboxing ring. The King's Cup tournament was just getting started with 8 world renown boxers fighting for the cup. Two of the fighters were Thai and, of course, got the loudest cheers. We only endured one match before the noise and the pushy crowds became too much. We, again, made our way back through the crowds where we could see both the kickboxing and the rock band performing at the same time. Boy, does the King know how to throw a party! It was amazing. Unfortunately, i'm not as young as I used to be and the noise was just too intense for me. Besides, I had been on my feet since noon and it was now 10 pm and my feet were KILLING me! So, I said goodbye to my new friends after we exchanged phone numbers and the one who spoke English told me how much he had enjoyed meeting me. I thanked him for keeping me from being bored and we agreed to meet up another time.

I headed away from the throngs of people, the noise and away from the smoke of all the food vendors. There were people everywhere!! Buses headed away from the palace were stuffed, nearly bursting, with people. I figured i'd get away from the crowds a bit and then hail a cab back to the metro station. I figured wrong! By the time i got passed all the crowds all the cabs driving by were already filled with people. So, I had a little talk with my feet and they agreed to forgive me for the torture I was about to continue putting them through. I kept walking in what i hopped was the direction of the metro station. Just when I thought I'd escaped the crowds a new crowd appeared. Ah! Night markets! wow! markets everywhere!! I decided to avoid these markets and continue my journey home. Finally, after a 75 minute walk I reached the metro station. Success!!!

When I reached home I removed my shoes and fell into bed and drifted ever so quickly off to sleep.

So there you have it! The King's birthday celebration. Oh, and as a side note, my feet had not yet forgiven me when I woke up this morning and made them walk to church. And I have a feeling they aren't going to love me tomorrow when I take them for another adventure in a nearby town...sshh, we'll keep it a secret from them!