It would be hard to talk about Thailand in December, 2007 (the year 2550 on the Thai Calendar) without mentioning the most celebrated day of the year - The 80th birthday of His Majesty, The King. Thailand is filled with birthday celebration plans that began earlier in the year, but are coming to a crescendo from December 1 to 6th. His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, born in Cambridge, MASS, turns 80 on December 5th. He is by far Thailand's most revered, adored and beloved king. On top of that, he holds the distinction of being the longest serving Monarch in the world - yes, I said world - celebrating 60 years on the thrown this year.
December 5th is also celebrated as Father's Day here, his Majesty is considered the father of all Thai people. Many will wear yellow in honor of the king on Decmber. Tom and I might need to buy yellow t-shirts to share in the celebration. If we can handle the crowds, we're hoping to go to the birthday celebration at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, where there will be an all day festival, jazz music (written by the king) will be performed (he is an avid jazz musician who has played with Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman).
Here on Phuket the celebrations are ringing in early with the annual Kings Cup Regatta, where over 100 sailboats compete for 5 days in various races.
This morning Tom and I had yet another breakfast overlooking the Andaman Sea, this time from Mom Tri's Boathouse restaurant, just up the block from the Villa Royale. As we drank coffee and ate fresh mango (I know, traveling is tough business), we watched scores of sailboats preparing for the day's launch. As I understand it, the Regatta is 5 days of races, with evenings spent reveling in Phuket nightlife.
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