Yellow rules in Thailand!

I arrived at Bangok very early on Monday morning. I tried getting some sleep, but the jet lag combined with the dripping sound from the leaking AC at the hotel room only allowed intermittent slumber at best.

So, at 7:30 AM I decided to go out for breakfast and check out the morning life of the city. I always check out the morning life of any city I visit, it says a lot about the city's character.

I was astounded by the number of people in the street wearing yellow. It looked like the entire city was in some sort of school uniform.

Later as we were setting up the venue for the HPC Workshop, I asked Pum, our host at the venue about the mystery of the sea of yellow shirts.

She explained, that the King of Thailand was born on a Monday. Yellow is the color of Monday (don't ask me why). So, out of respect for the King, citizens of Thailand wear yellow every Monday.

In this day and age of cynicism, it was heartwarming to see the unquestioned and selfless love and respect for their King (a symbol of dignity). This is quite a contrast from papparazzi chased celebrity worship we have in most of our societies.