January 2, 2015
Oops. Got the New Year date hiccups. Think I labed yesterday's blog post as Jan. 1, 2014. Speaking of beloved leaders, I am amazed by the ubiquitous of the King. His image is everywhere in Thailand. On the side of buildings, on arches over the highway as you enter almost every town or village, in businesses and in homes. Here are a couple examples:
The King of Thailand on the side of a building
A Wall Painting on a large buiding in Chiang Mai
I finally realized what it must have been like in the days of kings. There is a loyalty, or, diefication of an individual that defies gravity. We were warned by several guide books to not attempt to talk to the Thai people about him, but, of course, I couldn't resist and got a guy at the Bang A Gong B&B to spill the beans, which was basically this: "We love the king and can't get enough of him. His son, not so much."