Special Feature
Doi Inthanon Royal Project
heir to 700 years of royal tradition and one of the world ’ s richest men .
Visitors can enter parts of one Bangkok royal residence where another milestone in the king ’ s life occurred : his marriage in 1950 to a beautiful 17-year-old blueblood he had gotten to know in Europe , where both were studying . At the Sra Pratum Palace , a longtime residence of the king ’ s grandmother , several rooms have been converted into a museum showcasing in original detail the lifestyle of Thai royals in the first half of the 20 th century . There is even a setting of red porcelain dishes for a six-course dinner .
“ If people in remote areas are suffering ,” the king once said , “ we cannot simply stay put in this paradise of a capital .”
And he didn ’ t .
AROUND THE KINGDOM
During the 1970s and 80s , for up to eight months of each year , the king and members of his family would submit themselves to a grueling work cycle , rotating among four upcountry palaces , one in each of Thailand ’ s major regions : a residence in Narathiwat in the Muslimdominated south ; at Sakhon Nakhon in the impoverished northeast ; a hilltop palace above the northern city of Chiang Mai ; and a fourth in the central-south seaside resort of Hua Hin .
The newly married couple spent a five-day honeymoon in Hua Hin ’ s Klai Klangwon Palace — translated as “ Free From Worries ’’— and off its beach the king indulged in one of his favorite pastimes : small-craft racing . But even that pleasant , Spanish-style palace , which can be viewed only from outside the compound , resembled a base of operations rather than a royal playground .
From all four , the king would almost daily head out to one of his projects , or areas variously beset by grinding poverty , environmental degradation or — one of his near-obsessions — poor water management .
The king and family logged about 30,000 kilometers a year — traveling by helicopter , by Jeep with the king often at the wheel , and on foot — the fit , lean monarch invariably striding ahead of out-of-shape civil servants and palace staffers . Once , asked about his rapid pace , he responded : “ The reason I have to walk fast , go fast , is people ’ s hardship can ’ t wait .”
Though he probably never expressed it , at least publicly , his favorite destination was probably the north , with its mountains , cool weather and a rainbow of rugged , downto-earth ethnic hill-tribe people who developed a particularly intimate relationship with the monarch .
His headquarters there was Bhuping Palace , built in 1961 on a mountainside overlooking the northern hub city of Chiang Mai and near Wat Phra That Doi Suthep , the most sacred Buddhist monastery in the region .
Kung Krabaen Royal Development Study Center
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