Royal Barge Procession Full Dress Rehearsal

The King will have his 72nd birthday on the 28th of October. The Royal Barge Procession is to celebrate his 6th cycle and will take place on the 27th. I just learned a cycle is 12 years.

I decided to go to the first full dress rehearsal thinking it would have less people attending and easier to find a place to watch.

I cut and pasted the following from the Thailand Tourist Authority or TAT webpage.

"The royal procession by water will comprise 52 barges, including four major royal barges – the Suphannahong, the Narai Song Suban, the Anantanakkharat, and the Anekkachatphutchong.

There will be 2,200 oarsmen to row the ceremonial barges along the Chao Phraya River, from the Wasukri Pier to Wat Arun, in a 1.2-kilometre-long and 90-metre-wide formation."

I got to the place I planned to watch the procession and there was a lot of free seating and they were pulling some of the barges up the river full of the rowers to the starting location.

I decided I had a bit of time before the procession was scheduled to start so I went to get something to eat at a near by place. I got something to eat and drink and then the sky opened up and poured down rain.

I seat under a tarp staring at a clock hoping the rain would stop or let up before the procession started. While I was sitting there a big monitor lizard walked right through the area until the lady that cooked my lunch ran it off.

The rain slowed down a couple minutes before the scheduled start so I went back over to the seating and got a front row seat and the raining stopped as the procession started.

It was strange seeing what is usually a busy river with no boats prior to the start of the procession.

I took a number of video clips and upload the following short while watching the procession. I am not happy with the short but posting it because I plan to be away from my PC for close to a month so will not get a chance to create a compilation video.



I was a little worried that going to see this would be a bit of a waste of time and effort but I really enjoyed it and was very happy I made the effort. This is only the second time in this King's reign and the first was at his inauguration in 2019.