Every now and then it occurs to me that I can take my camera and do screen shots. It's probably lucky that I don't realize this every day.
This evening the Thai channels were taken over by some big event featuring the King, the Queen, and the Princess that everybody loves. Since all three of them showed up I figured it must be something very, very important. It turned out to be the dedication of a new monument in the form of a giant bronze elephant mounted by rampaging warriors. Somehow, the monument is to the memory of the grandmother of King Naresuwan, who personally did a lot of fighting from the backs of elephants, mostly against the Burmese.
The royal family are in the pavilion in the middle picture, watching the festivities. There was pageantry galore featuring boats and a giant stage across the river backed with a huge screen like at a Lady Ga Ga concert. All of the players were in period costume, like those guys on the elephants staging a mock fight. The elephants did a great job, but honestly they looked like best friends who happened to have some acting talent.
And the elephants were all white! Like six of them! Ever heard of a "white elephant sale?" The origin is in Thailand. Over here, any elephant born white becomes the property of the king, and white elephants by law are not permitted to work. (Except at pageantry, maybe.) So if the king wanted to put a burden on somebody, he'd gift them a white elephant, and they'd have to support the thing for the rest of its life while not getting any labor out of it.
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