I decided to take a little three day trip from Hanoi to Bangkok.When I arrived I forgot that King Bhumibol Adulyadej died on October 13, 2016 over a month ago. I was quite surprised to see that everything was covered in black and white for the king. Almost every screen in the airport had the picture of the king. There were shrine like places around the airport with flowers around the picture of king. People would stop to take a picture with the king.

On my way from the airport to my hotel I noticed more pictures of the king from the highway. There was also black and white banners everywhere. At this point I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the pictures of  King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The following day I took a walk over to the Grand Palace. I don’t think I could be more surprised from what I saw. All of the roads were blocked off surrounding the Grand Palace. ID checks, metal detectors, and bag checks to get inside the roads surrounding the Grand Palace. It was very hot and humid out which seemed to be the case the three days I was there. As I was walking down the blocked off street I started to notice everyone is dressed in black. Everyone except for some of the tourist.

I came up to what seemed like a short line until I rounded the corner to see thousands of people all dressed in black holding flowers to pay their respects to the King. People would wait in line all day dressed in black with this crazy heat. Luckily they had doctors and nurses walking around and stations everywhere to get help if they pass out from the heat. Tents were lined up giving away free food and drinks to keep everyone hydrated and full. Everyone was there to help each other out in this time of mourning. The mourning for King Bhumibol Adulyadej will last one year.