Thailand's Religious Groups Celebrate The King's 84th Birthday

Today is the king's birthday! We're going to the King's Park tonight to witness the annual fireworks display.

Yesterday, on the eve of his majesty King Bhumibol's 84th birthday, Thai people of different religious background gathered together and offered prayers and wishes for the king and for the country. We took our homeschoolers to witness the celebration. We knew it would be a good cultural and historical experience for them.

We drove past yellow banners and arrived 2 hours before the program. We're glad we got a good parking spot right across the park.

Our homeschoolers, enjoying the space.

Sanam Luang, where the celebration was held, is an open field and a public square for royal ceremonies and functions.

While waiting for the program, Zoe entertained herself with her own acrobatics.

Thai monks

People from all walks of life and religious backgrounds came.

Thai Buddhists offering lotus flowers.

Thai Muslims

Thai Christians with their banners.

It was a colorful and peaceful day.

Behind Zoe are Thai Muslims performing one of their daily 5 prayers.

The program started with the Muslim group.

Muslims in Thailand

Thai Catholics, Protestants, and Seventh-Day Adventists

The Christians came in 3 groups but had a unified liturgical ceremony, and then followed by a praise and worship.

Some raised their voices. Some raised their hands. 

Some danced and raised their flags and banners. Some prayed in silence.

Zoe, sleeping soundly amid loud singing.

It's been a long day for some, too.

Today, Thailand is united in prayer for the king. Regardless of religious background, Thai people, including expats like us, were singing the same song, "Prajao owai pon Prathet Thai." (God bless Thailand.)

   

Favorite Photos At the Park

 I've taken tons of photos when we took our homeschoolers to a park for our sports day. I would like to pick few favorites to share here. I have to say that my camera isn't working well these days. I still have to find why. Anyways, the following photos are chosen not for their photographic quality but for the captured moments that I was happy to keep.

My daughters, Naomi and Zoe, enjoying company of their friend, Ria, at the park.

My 1-year old nephew, Jacob, walking tall, with an Oreo in his hand.

Our homeschoolers enjoying the cool breeze by the lake after a long free play in the playground.

The hotel by the park we went to for our sports day last Friday. Postcard perfect!

Blue Girls

This picture was taken after our whole day at the immigration office processing our family visa. The girls were obviously tired and dozed off to sleep in the van on our way home.

I love taking photos, storing lots of them in my memory bank. I especially like capturing moments like this one when my "subjects" are most unaware.

You won't see me much in the photos in my blogs. I'm the one behind the camera, the teacher-mom who always has her camera hanging around her neck. I just love to be the photographer! But I'm sure it's neat to sometimes let my readers see Mrs. M, the author of this blog.

That's Mrs. M with her girls. 

This is my latest photo with my girls. We all thought it's a good idea to take photos of us since we were all wearing blue. Actually, teacher-dad and big brother Ben wore blue, too, but they went off so fast to the van and so we didn't get the chance to pose as a family in blue.

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Dancercise Competition & Parade of Costumes

We took our homeschoolers to a convention center on top of a big mall to watch the National Teen Dancersize Competition in Bangkok .

It was a big event for many provinces in Thailand. There were hundreds of participants.

We watched only few dances on stage. There were so many people, and we thought they were all winners already to be on the national competition so we didn't bother to know who got the grand prize.

What we enjoyed more were the sights backstage. It was like a parade of dance costumes!

Some groups did their final rehearsals backstage so that was cool, we didn't need to wait until the competition was finished. We went home and had a great day.