Long Live the King

Friday 5th December marked the 81st birthday of the King of Thailand, HRH Bhumibol Adulyadej, who, by the way, is the longest serving monarch in the world with 62 years on the throne. So it was a public holiday and this meant the traffic out of Bangkok on Thursday was wild. It took me almost four hours to drive home, partly due to poor route choice.

I have to say it was a very pleasant celebration. Mega pictures of the King draped over buildings, special light displays, and the locals apparently having a real nice time which they never seem to have any difficulty with. Friday proper saw marching bands and a parade followed by a firework display in the evening. Tesco's were running special promotions on cooking oil and other products. You could hardly move there were so many people in there. They were also handing out coupons to be redeemed for cash reductions on your next shop. Clearly the King's birthday is a time to give...

Unfortunately we did not hear from the monarch who had a sore throat and is a bit poorly. So for the first time ever there was no birthday address.

From the outside it seemed a pleasant laid back day. It felt like a holiday.

And of course the airport is open again, the Prime Minister has disappeared into obscurity and we await the next development on the political front. Elsewhere the economic meltdown appears to be in full flow. TV reports half a million people lost their jobs in the US in November. The pound is struggling. One pound gets just under 51 Thai baht today; six months ago it got 68 baht.All rather messy. I am very glad to be here with a few GB pounds that I exchanged for 67 and 59 baht.

There is talk of a teaching job. I went in to meet people and was advised they would get back to me this coming week. I guess I am ready for work. Watch this space.

Long live the King.And this Wednesday is Constitution Day so yes, another public holiday.