Sunday morning, Markus and I woke up really early (while Tawn and Tam both remained fast asleep under their respective covers!) and headed to the old city, Ko Ratanakosin (Ratanakosin Island) to do some bike riding.

This is where the Grand Palace and Wat Pho are located, usually quite congested with traffic and narrow, winding streets.  So we figured a Sunday morning about 7:00 would be a good time to see the sights without risking our lives.

We should have looked at the social calendar, though!  Right after finding parking and getting on the bikes, we encountered a parade of middle school students.  Tawn provided some much-needed context after I returned home, but it seems that this Middle School is under royal patronage and the parade was their particular way to celebrate the King’s 60th anniversary on the throne.

The parade was quite long – maybe the length of five or six city blocks – and was broken into units by each class of students.  Markus and I rode back along the parade to see the whole thing.  Passing one class, one of the boys called out to me, waving something in his hand.  So I rode over to see what he was handing out.  Condoms!  This must be the safer sex club, as opposed to the badminton club or drama club?!  Very strange.

Here’s a short video of the parade:

Afterwards, as we kept riding, we encountered a graduation ceremony at Thammasat University and the finish line of a marathon!  So traffic was a mess and we were definitely a bit unsure in the midst of well-trafficked city streets.

Reflecting on the experience after the fact, it would probably be a good idea to try again another morning.  That many activities surely contributed to higher-than-normal levels of Sunday morning traffic.  Next ride, though, will be in the countryside!

Also, from last week at Bangkhonthii School, here’s a short video of their music practice in the afternoon: