Happy Birthday to the King of Thailand!

December 5th was the King's birthday.  It's a national holiday (schools and banks are closed on Monday in observance) and also the Father's Day is celebrated. 

Some of my friends from the dorm invited me to go to the park to join the festivities.  I realized this is a lot bigger than Father's Day in the States when I saw the traffic heading towards the park.

We jumped on a song-taow, a pickup truck with space for people to sit/stand in the back.  With 31 people in the back, we felt the bottom of the truck hit the ground at every pothole and speed bump. 

 

The park was decorated with strings of lights over many of the trees, beautiful flowers, and pictures of the king.  Thousands of people gathered to celebrate, remember, and pay respect to the king.  There were people everywhere, couples, kids, families, teenagers, some sitting on mats, others buying ice cream, others taking pictures.  

 

As I looked across the lake in the middle of the park, I saw lights being spread.  One by one, fire was passed from candle to candle until the whole park was lit by the candles each person was holding.  

Then everything stopped, people stopped moving, the noise from the ice cream carts was silent, and the King's song began to play.  It played twice while people held their candles in respect. 

 At the end of the songs, fireworks shot into the sky.  It felt like the Fourth of July. 

As we left the park, we saw a family lighting a floating lantern.  The heat from the fire causes them to rise into the sky.

   

The whole evening was a beautiful display of respect and honor.