12GO ASIA notes that border and airport immigration checkpoints plus bank branches in shopping malls will be open as usual. There has been no official confirmation so far as to whether restaurants and pubs will be barred from selling alcoholic beverages.
December fifth was King Bhumibol’s birthday and had been a public holiday and also national Father’s Day before he passed away in October 2016. After the king’s death, the Thai government decided to preserve the holiday as a tribute to his memory and enduring legacy.
While King Bhumibol was alive his birthday was celebrated with the likes of fireworks displays and the erection of huge portraits festooned with yellow streamers. This year’s King Bhumibol Remembrance Day is expected to be more sombre with people limited to laying flowers at royal monuments such as the King Chulalongkorn Statue in Bangkok’s Royal Plaza and the Three Kings’ Statue in Chiang Mai.
King Bhumibol Remembrance Day public holiday in Thailand tomorrow
News in Asia
Tomorrow is a public holiday in Thailand in honour of the memory of the late King Bhumibol. The main branches of banks, post offices, provincial immigration offices and local government offices will be shut for the day.