Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand Dec / Jan 2017: Special Edition | Page 8

Special Feature

In the Footsteps
of the King

Barnstorming around Thailand, from Bangkok to the kingdom’s
furthest reaches, it’s easy to find a royal impact, as one
of Thailand’s most veteran correspondents reports.
by Denis D. Gray

U

pon a once-denuded watershed peopled by the
very poor, just as the mountains begin to rise
above the Chiang Mai valley, stretches a now-lush
forest studded by pristine ponds and reservoirs. Here,
where wild orchids bloom, some 80 varieties of tree and
more than 120 species of bird thrive.
“A living museum of Mother Nature’’ is how the late
King Bhumibol Adulyadej described an enterprise that he
seeded. It has proven not only a boon to the area’s farmers but to visitors who hike or bike its trails, camp by tranquil waters and learn, if they wish, about the green heart
of Thailand and its resilient dwellers.
Chang Hua Man
Overlooking towering tropical trees, they can sip some
Royal Project
superb, strong coffee from the hands in the hills, also
thanks in good measure to the deceased monarch. But
that’s another story, one we’ll get to shortly.
gilded temples, audience rooms and garden pavilions the
The Huai Hong Khrai Royal Development Center,
size of some 30 football fields. Here, the king officiated at
35 kilometers northeast of Chiang Mai city, is one of more
elaborate rituals and hosted foreign dignitaries, including
than 4,300 projects initiated across rural Thailand by the
what was unquestionably the largest
King and royal institutions throughout
gathering of the world’s royals in recent
his reign. Collectively, their aim was—
“If people in remote
times (13 reigning monarchs plus a bevy
and remains—to improve lives and
areas are suffering,”
of other bluebloods) on the occasion of
show how man and nature can best
his 60th year on the throne.
the
king
once
said,
“we
co-exist.
cannot simply stay
Among the numbing 500 plus royBut many have also become toural,
religious
and state ceremonies over
put in this paradise
ist destinations, variously offering Thais
which
he
presided
at the height of his
and foreigners stunning scenery, interof a capital.”
reign, Bhumibol would with the advent
action with tribal people and a dose of
of each season change the robes of the
adventure along with a chance to follow
sacred
Buddha
image
within the palace’s Temple of the
in the footsteps, literally, of a remarkable man who held
Emerald Buddha as people prayed for life-giving rains and
center stage in Thailand over seven eventful decades.
good fortune.

ON THE TRAIL
The trail to explore the King’s life and legacy should properly begin in Boston, where Bhumibol became the only
king born in the United States (his father was studying at
Harvard University). But in Thailand, the almost obvious
starting point would be the Grand Palace, where he was
crowned at the age of 22 in the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne
Hall and where, in that very place, he will lie for at least
a year before his cremation, concluding the cycle of his
own life and signifying the end of an era for Thailand.
Built in 1782 by the founder of the still-ruling Chakri
dynasty, the palace ranks among the country’s top tourist
attractions, a bygone walled world of soaring spires and
8 WANDERLUST

But the king and Queen Sirikit spent their daily lives
in Bangkok not at the Grand Palace, as some of his earlier predecessors had. Instead, they preferred the 45-room
Chitralada Royal Villa, a rather modest residence and
probably the most unusual place in the world—ever.
Unlike the Grand Palace, which allows visitor access
to many of its areas, Chitralada is not open to the general public (although passes can sometimes be obtained).
Those who peer into the kilometer-square compound
might spot a rice field, a herd of dairy cows, maybe a fishpond or a mushroom-growing patch. Beginning in the
1950s, the King turned most of the palace grounds into
busy experimental stations, rather than an abode for the
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