his majesty, king bhumibol adulyadej, also known as king rama ix, turned 82 this past saturday, december 5th. not only is he extremely popular and loved by all here in thailand, but he is also the current longest ruling monarch in the world, at 63 years. here, they celebrate his birthday extravagantly and have declared it fathers day as well. as a national holiday, schools and government systems are usually closed down on this day, but since it was on a saturday this year, it became a long weekend, and we had monday off instead.
the celebrations do not just last this weekend, though. they started a week ago with songs and prayers at schools and go officially until the 13th. on khaosan, there are lights and decorations up and they have parades and light shows. fireworks displays have been sporatically going off throughout the country. and even more pictures of the king have been on display and the yellow and pink king shirts are worn by an even higher percentage of the population than usual.
on his actual birthday, bars are closed and stores cannot sell alcohol. at 719 pm, the time he was born, the biggest ceremonies get kicked off across the country.
for all of these reasons, we had a three day weekend.
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