Thousands of mourners will descend upon Chaimongkol Temple Thursday Oct 26 to pay their last respects to HM the late King Rama IX as Pattaya hosts the area’s mirror funeral ceremony.
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The entire city will basically shut down Oct. 26 as those not lucky enough to be invited to Bangkok to attend the cremation of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej lay wood-pulp flowers upon Pattaya’s scale replica of the royal crematorium and make final prayers.
Bars, movie theaters, supermarkets and even 7-Eleven stores will close for part or all of the day and Pattaya’s major arteries either will be closed off to traffic or converted to one-way streets for hours. Nearly 30 parking lots have been opened and free shuttles arranged from four depots to take mourners to and from the South Road temple.
Public officials and government workers will get the first access to Chaimongkol at 7 a.m. with doors opened to the public at 9 a.m. People will lay their artificial daffodils upon the funeral pyre until 3 p.m. when the local ceremony will begin.
Ten monks will chant throughout the day and candles will be lit before a portrait of the late monarch as community and religious leaders make their eulogies.
At 9 p.m. the pyre will be lit and the wood-pulp flowers burned, watching on giant screens as the cremation ceremony concludes the Royal Palace.
Everyone attending has been directed to wear mourning colors, either black or white, or, at the very least, subdued colors and collared shirts. Public servants are instructed to wear their formal uniforms.
Pattaya’s crematorium is one of the royal crematorium replicas built in all 76 provinces. Each provincial district will hold some type of funeral ceremony.
Elsewhere in Chonburi, the public can attend the province’s main crematorium ceremony in Muang District, or ceremonies in nine other districts including at Sattahip Temple and the Sriracha district office garden.
