With my earache sufficiently painful midweek we delayed heading off to Ayutthaya from Thursday to Saturday, giving us a little extra time in Bangkok. So we decided to check out the National Museum in the hope of boosting our Thai history a little before we head north.
It's an interesting place, worth a visit, with far more useful information in English than Lonely Planet had suggested. Maybe it has been renovated. The most interesting stuff was to do with Thailand's monarchy. Ayutthaya became capital of the Siam kingdom in 1350, and from that time until 1758, the kingdom saw 35 kings over five dynasties. That's a new king every 11.7 years on average.
Furthermore, one of Thailand's more recent kings - King Mongkut, better known as Rama IV - had a whopping 82 children. Eighty-two! Mongkut is the 'King' in question in the popular musical The King & I. The plot comes from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, a school teacher to the King's children in the early 1860s. That Mongkut produced 82 children is staggering enough - you read differing accounts of how many wives he had - but that he managed it on top of spending 26 years in a monastery is bordering on showing off if you ask me.
Yet despite all this colourful regal history, everyone's favourite Thai king is the current incumbent, Bhumibol Adulyadej. The longest-serving monarch in the world, he's at last brought some proper kingly longevity to the Thai throne. Sixty-three years at the helm and counting. Only Bhumibol and our Queen Victoria have gone past the sixty mark in recent centuries, although Lizzy's up to 57 so far. He's an elderly man now, but still as revered as he ever was. He's also the richest monarch in the world apparently.
But you won't begrudge him his wealth when I tell you that this is a man whose musical abilities (he's a keen saxophonist among other instruments) are such that he has composed 50 pieces of popular music; whose photographs are of such quality that international news agencies have in the past had him on their payroll; and who once won a gold medal for sailing at the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games - the only monarch to win a medal at an international sporting event. He has also spent the bulk of his time as King working tirelessly to raise conditions for the Thais, continually visiting needy provinces and looking for ways to improve the welfare of the poorest of his people.
This is a seriously cool king, and one who might make some of his British counterparts examine their work rate a little. Bhumibol makes you realise what a monarchy can achieve if the will is there. The majority of his family, notably Queen Sirikit and his daughter Princess Sirindhorn, are equally devoted to their people.
On a less formal note, we returned to the Brick Bar last night for another hilarious evening watching Thai students go wild to the house ska punk bands while sloshing back whisky and soda. Bear in mind that this large and impressive venue is bang slap in the middle of touristville, yet we were two of only a dozen non-Thais in a place holding several hundred. This is where Bangkok's trendy youths come to let their hair down and go properly bonkers.
Sadly, I'm on antibiotics so could only sup on Pepsi during this hilarious chaos. Jacqui's having a lie-in...
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