Sea of yellow and blue as 600,000 take part in 'Bike for Dad' in honour of King

Thai capital as thousands of people fill Bangkok

BANGKOK: AS A tribute to the country's much-revered monarch, HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn yesterday led more than 600,000 people in joining the nationwide "Bike for Dad" event.

The event saw large cycling parades take place not just across Thailand but also abroad, as people came together to celebrate His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 88th birthday.

The number of pre-registered participants stood at 607,909, but the actual turnout was very likely higher.

The Crown Prince headed off from the starting point at the Royal Plaza at around 3.40pm, and finished the 29-kilometre stretch at 6.20pm.

Also in the same parade were his two daughters, HRH Princess Bajra Kitiyabha and HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana.

The royals wore yellow-and-blue T-shirts, just like all the other participants, including ambassadors of 24 nations and Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha.

Yellow is the colour associated with the King's birthday, while blue is associated with the Queen's birthday.

Many major roads in Bangkok were closed to facilitate the parade. As cyclists enthusiastically joined the event to show their loyalty to their much-beloved King, other people turned out along the roads to cheer them on, and shouted out "Long live the royals."

Although yesterday was not a national holiday, participation in the event was overwhelming.

The cycle route in Bangkok stretched from the Royal Plaza to Rajdamnoen Avenue, via Si Ayutthaya Road, Rajprarop Road, Rajdamri Road, Rama I Road, Phya Thai Road, Rama IX Road, Silom Road, Charoenkrung Road, Yaowaraj Road, Chakrawat Road, Prajadhipok Road, Arun-Amarin Road and Rama VIII Bridge before concluding at Royal Plaza.

As His Majesty commands overwhelming love and respect from his people, the event generated immense interest across the Kingdom.

A huge number of people turned up at a public park in the northern province of Uttaradit to join the cycling parade in honour of the King in their home town.

There were not enough "Bike for Dad" T-shirts for participating cyclists.

In the South, loyal subjects joined forces in doing stunts ahead of the "Bike for Dad" event in their cities.

Surat Thani Governor Wongsiri Phromchana led many cyclists at City Hall in forming the shape of a yellow heart with a Thai number 9 in the middle. His Majesty is also widely known as King Rama IX.

In Trang, some 5,000 cyclists formed the shape of "88 Dad Trang" at the province's City Hall to pay tribute to their beloved monarch.

In another southern province, Yala, a total of 2,000 cyclists formed the words "Yala loves the King" at Sataranasanamchangpuak Park in Muang district before the "Bike for Dad" rally kicked off.

In the northeastern province of Buri Ram, a 65-year-old retiree showed up at the starting point of the local event at 7am because she was so keen to express her loyalty to the King.

"By participating in the event, Thais show their love for the King," Utai Muenphra said.

The Crown Prince initiated the "Bike for Dad" cycling event, after the big success of the "Bike for Mom" event in August.

"Bike for Mom" has gone down in "Guinness World Records" as the world's largest-ever bicycle parade.

"Bike for Dad" is also very special, because it involves cycling parades not just in Thailand, but also in 66 overseas cities such as Paris, Vienna, Penang and Taipei.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Sea-of-yellow-and-blue-as-600000-take-part-in-Bike-30274749.html

-- The Nation 2015-12-12

Huge success and interesting to see what Bangkok looks like without the cars.

I see red when I see a sea of yellow.

There will be hell to pay for the media who didn't show certain VIPs participating.

Bike for AA.

A great day and a great event

Watched the coverage on 3. A good event overall. Poor woman English narrator had a bad cold. Sniffled after every sentence. I pictured her "handing off" to the man on occasion to go blow her nose.

Great event well policed and organized medics on stand by,free water etc .This was a great event and everyone was happy and excited to honour the King. Cheering crowds lined the route and in Bangkok I estimate 500000 took part. There were celebrities politicians and ordinary people all mixing in the huge crowd.I left after the registered riders and the throng was so great did not return to Dusit palace until 9.30. Yes slow but a lot if riders Great enthusiasm was shown by everyone. I hope to be able to take part next year!

Watched for about 5 mins...I kept hearing this very distinct scream in the crowd and thought ''could this audio be a recording or from somewhere else...showing so much love for the prince etc.'' Anyway then came Rama 8 bridge and the crowds carried on cheering away as the prince crossed. They must have been on boats under the bridge

Watched for about 5 mins...I kept hearing this very distinct scream in the crowd and thought ''could this audio be a recording or from somewhere else...showing so much love for the prince etc.'' Anyway then came Rama 8 bridge and the crowds carried on cheering away as the prince crossed. They must have been on boats under the bridge

There were a couple of camera drones flying about so this might explain sound track inconsistently.

Watched the coverage on 3 with English commentary. I watched the Crown Prince get on his bike at the King Taksin monument and cycle to the royal palace. Naturally he arrived before any other participants. My Google says it is 6.5k. So I am a little confused.

It even happened up here in rural Khampaeng Phet. There are quite a few people in Klong Lan and local who regularly ride and yesterday afternoon there were somewhere between 200 and 300 who turned up. Some did the whole distance and some who did less including my 12 year old son and 3 of his younger friends.

The age range was between around 7 up to people in their late 60s all of whom did it to honour the King.

Not for money or being shown on TV etc. Their reward was to do something for the king and their physical reward was a cold drink at the end of it and the satisfaction of doing something. Up here I didn't see one miserable face or hear anybody moaning or whining.

Good for them all and I am especially proud of my son and his friends as it is the first time he has ever done anything like it.

It was nice to see the same event all around the world also, I forget the channel I was watching it on

We where about 7,000 to join the ride in Sukhothai. I did not see any other foreigners joining this time but when it was Bike for Mom I did see a few more foreigners among my fellow bike riders.

I watched this wonderful event from Charoen Krung road near the Shangri La hotel and

the Prince and his two daughters were leading groups of bikes in that area. For those who think that

he did not do the whole route, Shame on all of you. I am glad to see that so many people

participated in this ride. My wife and I were at our spot for well over 2 hours and seen many

styles of bikes, 3 wheeled models,, and even some electric style unicycles. It was really

amazing to see the empty streets and then so many people riding their bikes past where we were standing.

Many of the people who did this route had to finish it in the dark, that was brave of them and

I hope that they all made it to the destination in good health.

Whilst I applaud the event & the feeling associated with it, I cannot say the same about the overall organisation in Udon Thani.

No notification of the closure of most of the city roads, along with gridlock & no avenues to avoid the event for many hours is not good enough.

I feel for the people trying to get to and from work. The traffic jams must have been hell.