Royal Barge Procession Update Thailand Celebrates the King's Birthday With SplendorPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
Here’s an event you don’t want to miss: the dress rehearsal for one of the premiere celebrations ever seen in this part of the world, if not the entire world. The rehearsal is truly dazzling—it’s for the coming of the grand Royal Barge Procession that will take place later this year in celebration of His Majesty, the King of Thailand, on his 80th birthday.
Full dress rehearsals of the Royal Barge Procession will be held on 26 and 29 October 2007. On both days, river procession is scheduled to depart from Vasukree Pier (Tha Vasukree) at 15:30 and arrive at Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) at approximately 17:00.
En route, the procession will pass the Royal Thai Navy Institute at approximately 16:00. This scenic stretch of the river, with a view of The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha on the opposite bank, offers the best vantage point from which to view the procession up close.
Tickets for the full dress rehearsals, viewed from the Royal Thai Navy Institute, are now on sale at the Tourism Authority of Thailand. TAT offers three options:
3,000 baht per person Experience the full splendour of the water-borne procession in the comfort of the air-conditioned Chao Phraya Hall on the 2nd floor of the Chumphonkhet-Udomsak Building. The ticket price includes a set dinner. Ten persons will be seated at each table.
30,000 baht per table for a party of 10Guests will be seated in the air-conditioned comfort of Chomcholathee Hall on the 3rd floor of the Chumphonkhet-Udomsak Building, overlooking the Chao Phraya River. The ticket price includes a set dinner.
1,200 baht per person View the Royal Barge Procession up close and personal from auditorium-style seating on a raised stage at Lan Tasanapirom Plaza by the Chao Phraya River. A snack box and bottled water is included in the ticket price.
The Royal Barges of the Kingdom of Thailand are the last of their kind in the world. One of the kingdom’s grandest spectacles, it’s an ancient tradition that was revived by His Majesty King Bhumibol in 1959. This breathtaking water-borne procession is reserved for nationally auspicious occasions and has been held fourteen times during the His Majesty’s reign.
A Royal Barge Procession is usually a misconception as to what it actually is for anyone who hasn’t seen one. We usually think of a barge as a flat bottom scow that carries cargo and is either pushed or pulled by a tugboat. Not a very romantic image.
But let not the name be misleading. The term “barge” in this case is a misnomer, for these Thai Royal Barges are nothing like the word “barge” described in dictionaries. The Royal Barges of Thailand are not “flat bottom scows for carrying cargo” but instead beautifully crafted works of art seen nowhere else in the world except, perhaps, those that at one time in history were Cleopatra's barges on the Nile River
The Royal Barge Procession is indeed a grand pageantry, certainly Thailand’s most colorful and prestigious ceremony. As seen from afar, the Royal Barges in the procession make a splendid show, their gold-leaf figureheads jutting out into the wind, their bright red and orange coloured canopies amidships catching the rays of sunlight. But even more remarkable are these splendid vessels when seen up close.
The major barges, including the one that carries the king, are kept in a boathouse on Klong Noi, not far from where the canal empties into the Chao Phraya. In 1972, this old boathouse was renovated and became The National Museum of Royal Barges, under the direction of the Fine Arts Department. But this is no ordinary museum; it’s more like a workshop where teams of artists and artisans painstakingly tend the barges.
The boathouse-cum-museum, is an amazingly large shed, yet it can house no more than eight boats at any single time. The others in the fleet are scattered around Bangkok at various docks and shipyards. Before arriving at the museum, the Royal Thai Navy is responsible for repairs and maintaining the barges to be sea worthy. While at the museum, the Fine Arts Department restores the artwork, the painting and gilding, and the Royal Household bureau has the responsibility for the interior decorations of the barges.
Barges in the boathouse are maintained in long berths and raised high above water level. Individual berths are connected by a network of walkways that makes working on the barges much easier. From morning to night, workers are everywhere around the barges, some climbing high on scaffolds, others at water level applying paint and trim to the hulls.
The most beautiful barge of them all, and the largest, is the King’s Suphannahong Royal Barge. With its golden swan figurehead, it is often referred to simply as the Golden Swan Barge; it first appeared in chronicles of the Ayutthaya period. She measures 49.17 metres long, 3.15 metres wide and weighs 15 tonnes. What comes as a surprise, among many surprises, is that she is hewed from a single tree, except for the figurehead of the golden swan, making it the largest dugout in the world.
Suphannahong requires a 77-man crew, all dressed in naval attire: 54 sturdy oarsmen and two steersmen, with two officers, one fore and another aft. In addition there is one standard bearer, one signalman, one chanter and several royal insignia bearers. When in motion on the river, the silver and gold paddles are raised in the air at the end of each stroke, controlled by a rhythm keeper who taps the butt of his silver spear on the deck in time with the chanting of ancient boat songs. The large 'tassel' which swings from the beak of the golden swan, according to tradition, signifies that the King is aboard the barge.
The second-most important in rank to the Supannahong is the Anekchatphutchong Royal Barge, first built during the rein of King Rama IV. The present one was launched in 1914. The third is the impressive Anantanagaraj Royal Barge, with its seven-headed Naga figurehead at the bow. The throne amidships is the Kanya type with masterful wood carvings trimmed in gold around the outline. It is used to carry the monastic robes and the elaborate floral offerings to the monks at Wat Arun. The Anantanakaraj, as well as the Suphannahong and the Anekchabuchong, is manned by 54 oarsmen and has a full complement of crew with officers, signalman and standard bearer.
During World War II, the barges had suffered severe damage during the bombing of Bangkok. But after his return from school in Europe, the King went to see the barges in their dry dock on the Bangkok Noi canal. Noting their frightful deterioration, His Majesty ordered their complete restoration, and decided to revive the ancient tradition of the Royal Barge Procession, for auspicious occasions. Artisans and craftsmen under the direction of the Fine Arts Department spent the next several years repairing the damage.
The first Royal Barge Procession of the present reign took place on 14 May 1957, as part of the 25th century celebration of the Buddhist Era, with 39 barges in the flotilla, for the King's Katnin Ceremony at Wat Arun. The Barge Suphannahong carried an image of the Lord Buddha; the Anantanakaraj carried the Holy Scripture; and the Royal Escort Barge Anekkochatbhuchong carried a group of Buddhist monks.
Try not to miss the rehearsal. You don’t need tickets to enjoy it. Just find a place along the river with the crowds. It can be fun.
Next week I will take readers to the coming fall festival of Southeast Asia.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Q. Dear Mr. Stephens, My wife and I plan to visit Thailand and in reading up on Thai culture and history we learned that the Thais use a different calendar than used in the west. Will this be a problem for us? Henry Sims, North Carolina
A. Dear Henry, It’s true, the Thais do use a different calendar but don’t let that worry you. The western calendar is also used. However, for your information here is the Thai calendar:
The official Thai calendar is calculated from the beginning of the Buddhist Era in 543 BC. The year 2000 AD is therefore 2543 BE. The year is subdivided into 12 months, the same as the Roman calendar. This year it is 2550. —HS
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
