Thai Kings 80th Birthday

Not much can bring the life of the noisy, traffic-clogged heart of Bangkok to a halt.
But on Wednesday the streets were hushed, the cars and buses banished.
All you could hear were speakers playing the royal anthem, and thousands of flags fluttering in the breeze, held by people of all ages.
Most were dressed in yellow and had waited for hours for a glimpse of a stiff and stern-faced old man passing in a motorcade, on his way to the gilded halls and temples of Bangkok's Grand Palace.
And as it passed they shouted "Song Phra Charoen", "Long Live Your Majesty". Some had tears in their eyes.
What explains this extraordinary bond between people and monarch?
King Bhumibol Adulyadej is accorded an almost divine reverence, with titles like Phra Chao Yu Hua (Lord Upon our Heads) or Chao Chiwit (Lord of Life).
People prostrate themselves on the ground in his presence. Yet there is genuine affection too, and it goes both ways.
Thais talk of their love for him as though he were a cherished member of the family.
In his speeches to the nation he likes to joke and tease them.

Earlier in his reign when he was younger and travelled a lot, he clearly enjoyed meeting and mixing with people from the poorest rural communities.
People often refer to his long life of service to the nation, to his experiments with agriculture and irrigation, many of them carried out on the grounds of his palace in Bangkok.
The formidable public relations machine which manages the monarchy's image makes much of these experiments, as it does of the king's other talents as a jazz musician and sailor.
But the real measure of these achievements is impossible to know in a country where all criticism of the monarchy is curtailed by the draconian lese majeste law (offence against the dignity of the monarch), and only lavish praise for the royal family can be published.
The reverence for the king seems rooted in something less worldly.
Time after time when Thais are asked about the virtues of King Bhumibol they refer to his proper adherence to the principles of "Dhamma", Buddhist teachings and the Buddhist concept of righteousness.

It is not just his practical deeds they are looking at, but his manner; his modesty, his reserve, his gentleness, and his apparent detachment from the world - qualities he has worked hard to perfect and project.
He is as much a spiritual leader as a worldly one.

Even though he isn't my King, I do wish him all the best.