A Loy Krathong post really should come first, but half of it's already written but at school, and I'm too lazy to rewrite it. So meeting the beautiful Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya shall come first :)
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| Here she is :) Would you believe she's 65? This is a recent picture too. |
She's part of a singing group called "To Be Number One", who our school arranged to hold a concert for. Our school prepared for her for months, including renovations, posters, and rearranging things everywhere. There were about 50 students, my small group of friends included, as well as students from other schools, who were given special shirts and arranged to meet her privately. There were two two-hour long practice sessions on how to greet her, how to sit, and how to act in her presence. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but managed to avoid falling asleep in these practice sessions.
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| With friends (Kik, Praew, Bam, Kat, and I) in a practice session, with a picture of the princess behind. |
During the day, before she came and when not in practice sessions, the members of her band "To Be Number One" performed in the school gym. It was really cool because they were so energetic and all the girls and ladyboys were going crazy for them. The posters were 40bht, so I bought one for me and a friend and we went through the autograph line. In Canada, I seemed to have skipped the "go crazy over boy celebrities" phase, but all the Thai enthusiasm for it really sinks into you. I found myself squealing like a little girl when one of the band members wrote "love." next to his signature. Apparently, every Thai girl refers to him as the "monster of the group" (a little harsh...), but I still think he's the cutest. The boys the Thai girls like are all bulky and look too American. I'm obsessing over celebrity boys - and I thought I'd never be one to support this useless pastime -_-
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| In the autograph line, this is Mod, the super cute one who wrote "love." on my poster ;) |
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| The final autographed poster: 11 out of 16, not bad |
I was told the princess would arrive at 3. She didn't. She arrived at 8. This would be a prime example of "Thai time". It was worth it though.
All 50 students were seated on the ground with our legs to the side in the traditional Thai way. The security guards and police officers came in first and sat down in a row of chairs. Then the princess walked in and sat down in the big armchair in the centre of the room. As she passed each row of students, they placed their hands and head on the ground in the traditional "grap" then came back up for a "wai", then when she was seated everyone did one more "grap" all together with "Sawatdii-ka/krup". Some students from our school performed a dance for her. Then chosen students stepped forward and presented a problem of theirs to the princess. It was anything from something going wrong in their family, to school, to boyfriends and girlfriends, and the princess offered advice. To me, this was really interesting because it shows that, even after so many years and when the Royal Family doesn't hold much political power anymore, they still have the traditional image of guidance for the people. Their primary role is to solve the problems of the people, no matter how small. So I thought that was cool.
When she left, she went into another room of the school to change outfits for the big concert. She was driven down the little walkway in a decorated golf cart, while students sat down and lined the walkway, performing a "grap" as she passed. For the actual concert, she sang while the rest of the "To Be Number One" group danced around her. The enthusiasm of the crowd was inspiring :)
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| Sitting while waiting for the princess to pass |
Then she changed clothes again and everyone watched her car leave the school grounds. That will definitely be an experience I'll never forget.
I met a freaking princess!!!
Anneke
