December 5th: The King's Birthday

December 5th is a national holiday that holds great importance to all Thai people. The King of Thailand, who has been in throne since the 1940's turned 87 this year. Everywhere you go throughout Thailand, there are pictures of the king, ranging from posters in stores and homes to huge billboards with the king's image on it. A tradition is also to wear the color yellow to honor the king.

Fellow hostel volunteer and now good friend Caspar and I were shown around by two Thai girls whom we had helped teach English to at the hostel. We spent the whole day taking a boat up the river to different temples, ate some great Thai food that I otherwise would not order, watched a boxing match and music festival, and finally ended the night at the fireworks and candle light show where tens of thousands of Thais (and a few Westerners) honored their king.

One funny part of candle and firework show was that Caspar and I were in a sea of native Thais. People were taking pictures of us and laughing when we had no idea what to say when the crowd responded to the MC. At the end of the fireworks, two girls asked our friend if they could take a picture with us. Overall a great day and a fitting end to my week and a half stay in Bangkok.