Thailand Videos - Pattaya, Bangkok, Kohsamui, Phuket

Sunday saw the final day of a week long celebration of the revered King's 82nd birthday and, almost by accident, I found myself in the midst of tens of thousands of people packed into the vast Royal Plaza watching a spectacular 4D light show that wrapped the majestic Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall in a moving fresco of colours, sounds and images while an orchestra belted out music in front, dancers danced and singers sung. It was a spectacular tribute to King Bhumibol Adulyadej who is revered by the Thai people and the vast Plaza in front of the hall was packed from end-to-end with people, many of whom had travelled from distant parts of the land to come to pay their respects to the man they call their Father. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the world's longest-serving monarch: he ascended to the throne on March 9, 1946, and today his approval ratings are staggering: usually touted in the mid-90 percents. His birthday, December 5, is also Father's Day, emphasising the way the Thai people view him, for most he has been a constant figure throughout the whole lives, and is seen as someone who can bring everyone together in a country where there are dividing lines. This year sees his 82nd birthday and he has been ill for sometime, recently residing at the sprawling Siriraj Hospital on the other bank of the city's Chao Phraya River. For the Thai people the birthday celebrations this year meant even more, creating the perfect chance to wish him a speedy recovery, and express their devotion to their King, and form a tangible outlet for their worry. From Victory Monument BTS Station I took a creaking bus down towards the Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall. As soon as we hit the junction and level crossing at the Chitlada Palace the bus shudders to a halt and we are turfed off. Trees and lampposts are festooned with bright lights and the road is a milling mass of people. Each evening this week a royal convoy whizzes down this road and the people line the with boulevard to pay respects to their monarchy. Everyone is wearing pink. Thailand has embraced colours to symbolise positions, seas of red and yellow shirts are embedded into consciousness here, and pink has been decreed as the colour to wear for the King's birthday as astrologers a couple of years ago deemed this the distinct hue that would reflect good health for the King. We don't have long to wait as within minutes, and with the roads lined with a solid blanket of pink shirts of Thais sat cross-legged, and with glittering lights draped from the trees, the royal cavalcade speeds past. Once the cars have passed we continue down Si Ayutthaya Road, which is closed to traffic, and at the intersection with Ratcha Damnoen Nok Rd a solid sea of people and plastic chairs begins, wave after wave that stretches right down the vast acres of Royal Plaza as far as the Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall, a sea of people interrupted only by the towering equestrian statue of King King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), one of the country's most beloved of past monarchs; astride his horse he rises imperiously from the gathering of humanity, evocatively timeless. Floodlights illuminate the scene, there is a temporary stage on the right where a band playing and the corners of the Palza are bookended by two giant TV screens that flicker through images from the entertainment interspersed with sweeping panoramas of the crowd that are grabbed up by several shadowy booms that lazily sweep above this throbbing scene. It really feels as if most of Thailand has turned up here tonight. The images also reveal that the vast boulevards that roll up to this square are now packed with people.