Doing a little research for my cherry trip I see much reverence for the King and the Royal Family. I also note the King himself has had some health issues lately.

Let's say he or the Queen dies...

What likely would happen and what would be the effect on the tourist monger be? I am assuming bars would close perhaps for days for days of mourning? Would the freelance and soapie scene even dry up with despair over-riding the need for a few dollars from entertaining farangs?

My point is, if this does happen during my trip or just prior, would it be a good idea to have salvaging escape routes planned to get ass out of country to the Philippines, Cambodia, or where-ever else I can get to from BKK or Pattaya?

This topic looks to be pretty much banned on the Thai specific boards, so I ask here.

These days whenever I go to Thailand this issue is a concern of mine. Undoubtedly, when the King dies there will be major mourning and I suspect pretty much everything will close down for a while.

The long-term prospects after the King's death are not good either. As the closing down a year ago of the BKK airport for over a week by some political protesters demonstrated (and for me this was a real problem because I could not get a flight out of the country while this was going on), as well as numerous other demonstrations and instances of violence, there is a deep undercurrent of political problems in Thailand that could rise to the surface after the King's death. I wouldn't even rule out civil war, although I suspect more military rule with a heightened level of violence is more likely.

The seriousness of the situation is illustrated by the fact the Thai stock market lost 7 percent in one day about a month or so ago based on mere rumors the King was close to death.

I'd be interested in hearing what Khun Mor or Zuperfly think about this. My guess is that once the king goes, all nightlife venues in Bangkok will be ordered shut from the day he goes until the day after the funeral (assuming that there isn't some massive gap of time between the two events - I don't know what the protocol is for royal funerals).

Possibly the gap would be shorter in Pattaya, but given the event, it may be completey closed down as well.

So yes, if it happened while you were in country, it would make sense to sound retreat to the alternative venue of your choice.

It will be interesting to see what transpires afterward. The crown prince is widely despised. Taksin is next door in Cambodia. A lot of people there truly hate each other. There could be a lot of blood spilled in the aftermath, and a return to military rule for a while. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Taksin assasinated in the course of events.

I am not old enough to have experienced a King or Queen of Thailand dying. He has been king since waaay before I started going to Thailand. When the last King died there was no farang bar scene as it exists today. Just the local Thai bars were around.

Closest I came was when his mother died. She was widely beloved. A lot of public mourning but did not really effect the bar scene. They actually built a house for her on the Summer Palace grounds and kept her body there for almost a year, if I remember right - until it was considered by the high monks a proper time for her cremation. The bars closed for a few days after that ceremony I believe. I was not in countru during that event.

As to the King dying ?? All bets are off. I am sure most girls would not go to work for at the very least a few days even if the bars stayed open - which I doubt. They would want to be with their families I believe.

When I was in Pattaya a year ago, last November the bars were closed for 2-3 days for a Royal Funeral. I believe it was the King's sister. Almost all of the bars were closed on the first day. The second and third days many of the beer bars were open on a limited scale with no music allowed. I believe that there were even a few agogos open on the 3rd day.

The thing that I found most strange was that the Princess had apparently passed away 10 months before the funeral and the bar closures. Some of the girls told me that it took that long time to plan the funeral event. Here is a link to an article that talks about the preparations.

http://absolutelybangkok.com/a-princess-last-journey/

I would expect the King's funeral to be a bigger deal and require even more planning.

H1

Khun mor said:
"I am not old enough to have experienced a King or Queen of Thailand dying."

I have heard that the king of Thailand is the longest reigning monarch in the world today. I would be very surprised if any board members remember the passing of his predecessor.

H1

"I would expect the King's funeral to be a bigger deal and require even more planning."

If there were such a thing, it would be something like infinity times a bigger deal.

My guess, would be that all the mongering locations in country would be shut down for at least a week, maybe more, and most of the Thais will be in a depressed mood. Not good for a fucking vacation.

I would start to think about an optional plan that you could put in action at the last moment, like fly out to AC or another location, or just get out of the country because there will likely be a coup or something along that nature when it happens.

If he were to die a month, week, or a few days before my trip, I would have to think about changing my flight plans. You do not want to fly into a country undergoing a political and social crisis at the same time.

Try to talk to some local Thais in your area to get a feel for what they think will happen, when the king is gone.

RG.

Some royals died in the Dec 26 2004 tsunami, I think it was a grand-daughter of the king. The NYE festivities in Pattaya were officially toned down (no official fireworks), but for the bars and hotels it was business as usual.
About two years ago the king's sister died, and it took a year before the funeral; in the course of that year the entire country was plastered with memorials to her, you might recall seeing pictures of a middle-aged woman on many Thai websites, and a lot of municipal festivities were canceled.
When the old fella goes there is going to be a shutdown of almost everything for a few days, and I think there will be a lot of personal mourning for a few weeks, and it will become commonplace after a month, maybe everyone wearing some sort of remembrance symbol like an armband, and then the funeral a year later.

Then comes the ascendancy and the political implications thereof. I think there may be a moratorium on positioning (or at least mention of it in the press) until he's buried. After that, all bets are off.
I think when speaking with Thais a farang shouldn't do much more than offer condolences, and refrain from "what now?" discussions.

In the meantime it may be interesting to see "I, Claudius" to see how other cultures have handled such things :^)

It was actually Khun Poom the autistic grandson of the King who died. He was leuk krung as the King's eldest daughter was married to a farang and lived in California for many years. After her divorce she went back to Thailand with her kids and was gradually forgiven for marrying a non Thai.
Khun Poom was very popular in Thailand.
The other two pictured are his half Thai sisters.




(Message edited by khun_mor on November 30, 2009)

(Message edited by khun_mor on November 30, 2009)

Looking through old topics and came across this, unfortunately the king did pass and a new king,Vajiralongkorn, took over.

Bars were closed for a couple of days and not for days on end as the original poster suggested and talking about the king were banned on all other forums. I wonder if the original poster was in Thailand at the time and did escape to go to the Philippines.