Remember Rama

We only belatedly realised that it is Chulalongkorn Day today, a public holiday in Thailand to remember King Chulalongkorn, who ruled 1853-1910, and who is otherwise known as Rama V. That explained why so many people were wearing yellow t-shirts (to show their respect to the Royal Family) and there wasn’t the usual crush in the metro at rush hour. It might also explain why our apartment block has a banner saying, ‘Happy New Year.’ Either that, or it’s left over from the western New Year in January, Chinese New Year in February or Songkan (Thai New Year) in April.

For those who are familiar with the film, ‘The King and I’, Chulalongkorn was the King’s son, the one who Anna Leonowens was engaged to tutor.

Chulalongkorn travelled extensively and worked hard to move Thailand into the modern age by, for example, abolishing slavery and introducing a railway system into the country. The reason that the Thais use a spoon and fork to eat their food, in preference to chopsticks, is apparently a custom that Chalalongkorn brought back after a trip to Europe.