Somber Thais flock to palace to honor dead king

Thais in their thousands, dressed in somber black and white, descended on the Grand Palace in Bangkok today to mourn the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, but were met with the unexpected closure of the complex.
The crowds lining outside since dawn were subdued and orderly despite the swelling numbers. People shared food and handed each other water and wet towels to cope with the Southeast Asian heat.
Around midmorning, police announced the palace was closed for seven days. Still, most people waiting remained outside and authorities soon announced entry would be allowed into the palace's Sala Sahathai Samakhom Hall as a place to pay respects for limited hours in the afternoon.

"I left home at 6 AM to come here," said Rakchadaporn Unnankad, a Bangkok office worker. "We were queuing for so long before they told us that we can't go inside the palace. There were people who have been here since 4-5 AM," she said.
"My tears started flowing out of me without my realizing," the 24-year-old said, recalling the news of Bhumibol's death. "I didn't even want to hear the announcement."
Buddhist funeral ceremonies began at the Grand Palace yesterday after a royal motorcade led by a van carrying Bhumibol's body and monks drove to the palace from nearby Siriraj Hospital, where the king died Thursday aged 88.

People sat four to five rows deep on both sides of the road, sobbing openly and bowing as the convoy passed. Most held portraits of the king in regal yellow robes.

Some pulled currency notes from their wallets: all bank notes carry the king's face. Many had camped 24 hours since Thursday.
Bhumibol's death after 70 years on the throne was a momentous event in Thailand, where the monarch has been glorified as an anchor for a fractious society that for decades has been turned on its head by frequent coups.
Thailand suffered particularly intense political turmoil in the past 10 years that pitted arch-royalists against forces seeking a redistribution of economic and political power.

But in recent years, Bhumibol had suffered from a variety of illnesses and seemed far removed from the upheavals of Thai politics, including the 2014 coup that brought Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, an army general, to power.
"His death means that the Thai political system must find an alternative focal point around which to unite the country's factionalized population," said Tom Pepinsky, a Southeast Asia expert at Cornell University.
He said one challenge that royalists will face is the possibility that the monarchy's popularity would be undermined by the crowning of heir apparent Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who does not command the same respect his father did.

The government on Thursday unexpectedly announced that the crown prince did not want to be immediately named king to give the nation time to mourn.