HM King Bhumibol
Adulyadej arrives at a rice field in Ayutthaya province, central
Thailand Friday, May 25.
Thanyarat Doksone
Associated Press
Thousands upon thousands of devoted Thais feted their
84-year-old Monarch Friday on his first trip outside the capital in
almost three years.
The elaborate tribute to His Majesty King Bhumibol
Adulyadej the Great in the old capital of Ayutthaya was a celebration of
values and unity.
HM the King, the world’s longest reigning monarch,
actively worked for decades on behalf of the country’s poor but has
since greatly reduced public appearances since he was hospitalized in
September 2009 for what the palace called a lung inflammation.
Since then he has had a variety of ailments and has
lived in a royal wing of Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital, leaving only on
rare occasions and always in a wheelchair.
Residents take positions
on the ground near the site where HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej was about
to pay a visit in Ayutthaya.
Friday’s highlight was a visit to a rice paddy that
HM the King also toured in 1996 and was part of a royal project to
mitigate flooding in Ayutthaya. The devastating floods last year
submerged much of Ayutthaya, damaging ancient temples, crops and
hundreds of factories.
The Ayutthaya area is fraught with historical
significance as the country’s capital three centuries ago that was
sacked by invaders from neighboring Burma.
HM the King’s first stop was at a statue of Queen
Suriyothai, a consort of an Ayutthaya-era king who sacrificed her life
in battle with the Burmese to save her husband. HM the King handed over
a garland from his van for an official to place before the statue.
HM the King left his van at the next stop, a
specially constructed royal hall, where Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra paid her respects with a short speech declaring her devotion.
Politics, however, was pushed aside Friday for
pageantry and displays of devotion by the huge numbers of ordinary Thais
who crowded roadsides to see the only monarch most of them have lived
under. HM the King ascended to the throne in 1946.
Thousands of Thais lined
the roads from Bangkok to the historic capital Ayutthaya to catch a
glimpse of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej on his historic visit to the
ancient capital.
A parade staged for HM the King recalled a much
earlier era, with people in period costumes marching along with nine
elephants decked in glittering regalia. The show at one point included
two warriors on elephant-back staging a mock battle, as well as
performances of traditional music and dance, performed in the dramatic
dusk light.
Dressed in a military uniform, HM the King earlier
was wheeled from the hospital and into a white van adapted to
accommodate his wheelchair.
He, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and one of their
daughters, HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, were driven past crowds
of people waving Thai flags and the yellow royal flag as police
outriders stopped traffic to let the entourage pass.
People dressed in yellow and pink - colors associated
with the monarch - lined the roads from Bangkok to the country’s central
plains hours before the royal convoy was due to pass.
The palace has given little explanation for the trip,
though farming is closely integrated into national tradition and HM the
King is closely associated with it.
It likely serves as a chance to publicize HM the
King’s improved health - a matter of such public interest that a Bangkok
newspaper carried a front-page headline Thursday that stated: “His
Majesty The King Takes 50 Steps Without His Cane.”
Thai residents cheer as
the motorcade of HM the King passes in Ayutthaya.