(Title: As seen in recent newspaper headlines)
May 30, 2012
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| Ruins of the ancient Ayutthaya, the capitol of Siam (Photo: Norbert Nagel, 2009) |
Friday May 25, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, accompanied by Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and HRH Princess Sirindhorn, left the Sirirat Hospital where he has been under medical care since September 2009, to travel by motorcade to the old capital of Ayutthaya. The royal family traveled there to inspect damage from the recent flooding and to visit a special project the King initiated 6 years ago. They were greeted by thousands of Thai people along the road, waving Thai and Royal flags and shouting “Songpracharearn” which means, “Long Live the King.”
The project he initiated at an old battlefield. The king called the project, “Monkey Cheeks” and it is part of the numerous water management and flood control initiatives of the king.
In figuring out ways to deal with the now yearly flooding of the central plains, he became inspired by watching a monkey stuff its cheeks full of food before returning to its perch to eat. He thought, “If the monkey can do that with food, why can’t we do it with excess flood waters that are now beginning to cause so much damage?” The idea was to allow pockets of rice land adjacent to the Chao Praya Riverto collect and store floodwater and then release it back into the river after the major floodwater receded. It was a novel idea by a king who is an engineer and expert in water management.
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| Monument to Queen Suriyothai (Photo: Heinrich Damm, 2006) |
The field where the visit took place was also the location of a famous battle that occurred during the Burma-Siam War of 1548. The Burmese had invaded Siam(now called Thailand) and were intent on attacking the Capitol City of Ayutthayasituated one hour’s drive north of Bangkok on the Chao Praya River. King Maha Chakkrapat of Ayutthaya rode his war elephant out to challenge the King of Burma accompanied by his Siamese foot soldiers. During the ensuing battle, King Maha Chakrapat’s elephant stumbled and fell because of its wounds. The Burmese King saw a chance to kill the Siamese king while his elephant was down. Meanwhile, unknown to the King of Ayutthaya, his Queen Consort, Sri Suriyothai had disguised herself as a man and rode into the battle on a war elephant of her own. She saw the Burmese king’s attack on her husband and knew he was vulnerable and could easily be killed. To save him she immediately drove her war elephant between the Burmese king and her husband’s downed elephant. During that age, warriors on elephant back fought using long spears with sharp blades at the end. Queen Suriyothai was struck and killed by a blow from the Burmese king’s weapon. When she fell from her elephant, her helmet came off and her long flowing locks betrayed that she was a woman. When the Burmese king found out that he had killed a woman and a queen, he withdrew from the field.
Suriyothai is one of Thailand’s greatest heroines and the theme of a romantic movie that released in 2001 called The Legend of Suriyothai. A momument to her bravery now stands at the site of the battle. The king and queen also visited this monument and laid garlands.
Also, it was reported that the king is responding well to physical therapy and now able to walk a short distance unassisted. This is very good news to all of us.
Leon Sexton
View on Blogger: Thai king makes 1st trip outside Bangkok in years
