In the heart of Thailand, where tradition sings and history sleeps under the watchful gaze of eloquent monuments, Vacharaesorn, a dignified 42-year-old gentleman, stood with a reverent posture before an enigmatic statue. With the solemn grace of a practiced ritual, he tenderly placed a tray adorned with vibrant flowers to celebrate a date that inked its mark not only in his family ledger but also in the nation’s heart – his grandfather’s birthday, affectionately embraced by all as Father’s Day.
The King Rama IX Memorial Park – a labor of love marinating in nostalgia and affection since 2018, is a masterpiece in the making, poised to swing open its regal gates come the following year. Yet, such is the fervor of reverence for the beloved late King, the grounds graciously unfurl to the public in a duet of annual solemnities – on the poignant King Rama IX Memorial Day each October 13, and the celebratory crescendo of His Majesty the late King’s birthday on December 5.
Our protagonist, Vacharaesorn, is no ordinary visitor. His days, woven with the fine threads of legal discourse, play out in the high-rise mosaic of New York City where he excels as a lawyer. Bound by the call of his roots, he embarked on a voyage spanning continents to land in his cherished homeland this Monday, alighting in time to bask in the warmth of today’s Father’s Day jubilations – a pilgrimage he undertakes with the devotion only a son can know, for the second time this year.
His journey, chronicled with the click of a camera before the descent into Bangkok, captivates with an image that speaks of distance and longing. Through the lens of a window aboard his Air France chariot, he captured a tableau that stretches in a canvas of blues – the horizon kissing the land of Siam. A picture painted with words that resonate with an unspoken yearning: “As far as the eye can see. The blue skyline. The land of Siam.”
Steeped in the regal aura of his lineage, the King’s son Vacharaesorn is poised to weave the fabric of his stay with threads of compassion and enlightenment, allotting a fortnight in his ancestral homeland to not just attend Father’s Day festivities, but to also grace charitable causes and impart wisdom through a special public lecture, his itinerary laced with intended sojourns beyond the capital’s embrace.
It was a break of 27 years overseas that preceded Vacharaesorn and his sibling, Chakriwat’s, first homecoming on August 7. An anchor in the sea of their nation’s affection, Vacharaesorn, or “Than On” as he is fondly called, along with “Than Ong” as Chakriwat is affectionately known, have rekindled ties to their motherland with the warmth only sons can bring back home.
Their previous sojourn saw them in the venerated company of the Supreme Patriarch at Wat Ratchabophit, where they steeped themselves in acts of giving at various sacred temples, dusting off the years between with prayer and incense. The pulse of Bangkok’s vibrant Chinatown also felt their presence, as they wove through its tapestry, sharing smiles, immortalizing moments with selfies, and exchanging pleasantries with the faces of their father’s kingdom.
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