This weekend the entire Kingdom of Thailand is in mourning at the funeral of the King's sister Galayani Wattana. She died earlier this year in January of cancer at the age of 84. She was very much loved by the people of this country. Much like the King and Queen she was known for her work in helping the people of Thailand.
It may seem unusual for many reading this to think that they waited 11 months before they had her funeral, but this is apparently not unusual for the arrangements of Thai royalty to take this long. It seems to be a combination of Buddhist traditions as well as planning the event that led to this day. It is my understanding from what I've been told that when any person dies here, they are usually embalmed and the person stays with the family for awhile. Depending on how wealthy the person is they will stay at the temple and priests will pray for them even as long as 100 days. After this, the person is then cremated in a public ceremony with friends and family members present. Till this week, the princess has been lying in state at the Grand Palace. 
I wasn't sure exactly when her funeral was supposed to be, but when Sarah and I were walking down the street today it was pretty evident what was going on, as 4 out of 5 people were dressed in black. Right after she died, everyone dressed in mourning clothes for 3 months. The funeral procession was quite elaborate and involved thousands of marching soldiers and a huge gilded crematorium of which, I've only seen pictures. I imagine that there would have been no way for us to go to the funeral as millions of other people were there, and we would have no clue what was going on. Still, I think it is interesting to note the extreme dedication, love and respect for the royal family that the Thai people have. Many are hoping that this time of unity will continue even after the mourning is over.
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