The King and I

I was out of sorts yesterday so I went out to the cinema. I went to Siam Paragon, one of the big flashy malls here.

I got in the lift at the basement level.

Two ‘bomb squad’ men got out on the ground floor.

On the mezzanine floor, two firemen got in. It was only then that I started to wonder if I should abort my plans to go to the cinema. (Though you might not see it on the news, we are still having political demos here – this time, it’s the other side, the red shirts.) The firemen travelled up to the 5th floor with me.

The cinema lobby didn’t look immediately different from normal, though looking back it was busy for a weekday. It took me some time to realise that most of the people were in an assortment of uniforms.

I queued for my ticket. I’m used to living my life in a certain ignorance or maybe it's oblivion; remember this is a foreign country. The subliminal messages don’t always get through because my spoken Thai is pitiful (my reading Thai is non existent) and I can’t perceive the subtle differences that we take for granted in our home country.

There were securities everywhere: security staff, naval uniforms with gold epaulets, army soldiers, (mostly) men in dark suits, police, Paragon security staff and more cinema staff than normal.

I asked the boy on the ticket office 'is someone special here?' He leant forward conspiratorially, motioned with his hand and says ‘the King is over there.’

OMG! Only a few feet away. Only a white sheet and several hundred security staff separated us.

There's an excellent article here from Jonathan Head, the BBC correspondent for this region, who explains why the Thai King is so revered here.








My deduction (the man dressed as an elephant gave it away) was that The King was attending a function to do with a Thai animation film, Khan Kluay 2. The blurb at Movieseer says: ‘Khan Kluay 2 is set after the victory of Ayudhya against the invasion of the powerful Burmese Empire when Khan Kluay is appointed as King Naresuan's royal elephant and services the king in many battles.’

What to do?

I’ve been holed up at home for days now. I know this, because my purse is still full of Singaporean coins, which we stopped needing on Sunday, and because I’m starting to feel a bit mad. I’ve been writing …although my concentration was not so good yesterday.

Today, being Thursday, means I have the day off; the day off writing. I’m going out to have a life, starting with breakfast with Husband near his office, because afterwards I am due at a board meeting at the library in Silom.

And then I’m free to do what I choose: I am trying to decide whether I shall go to a movie or *whispers* have a pedicure.

If I go to the movies I might get to see all the films I want to see at the cinema (as opposed to on DVD) (Doubt, The Reader, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog – Friday with Husband, Milk – Monday with the girls.)

But if I get a pedicure, my trotters will look lovely (it’s all relative) and I can read while they do it because I don’t often waste my time with manicures. I’ve never really felt grown up enough to have colour on my fingers. It makes me feel like I’m trying to be someone else.

Anyway… what to do? Ho hum.