A High Monk's Passing 9- Construction Complete

A note on the sequencing..  I've made more than a few mistakes loading the raw files into LightRoom, selecting the ones to edit, doing the editing, converting them to jpgs, and then uploading the jpgs into the blog.  Some were lost, others morphed into a different chapter.  So I've dropped #7 and #8 in order to keep the order in which I've loaded the raw files unchanged.  LR hates file location or file name changes!

Early the next day, Wednesday. the construction looked complete.  Paper mache rock gardens, surrounded by flower arrangements topped with white peacocks, framed the main staircase and graced the front corners.  Pha Thep Weehsutthikwun's portrait had been placed to the right of the front staircase while in the background crypts containing the ashes of Thai royalty stood silently.  Thais- who always first waied  or prayed before his portrait, and visitors, gathered to look or walk around, pausing often to reflect or to take pictures.

The picture taking here was different from the usual head cocked to one side, big smile and flash a "V" routine.  Endless selfies of course, but more often, individuals, couples or groups would position themselves in front of the bier, looking respectful if not always somber, hands at their sides as their pictures were snapped.  Smart phones outnumbered traditional cameras 10-1 at least.

A sign of the times..  A monk pays his respect with a wai, while his cellphone is clasped between his outstretched fingers.

While Wednesday's early morning visitors at Wat Suandok probably numbered in the dozens, at Wat Buph Pharam in downtown Chiangmai, hundreds were already gathering for a morning of prayer, remembrance and millenniums old ritual.  Around noon Pha Thep Weehsutthikwun's casket, to be accompanied by thousands of local devotees and high ranking monks from across Thailand, would begin the five mile, hours long, procession to Wat Suandok.  His arrival and interment atop the bier would begin three days of mourning and celebration here before his cremation Saturday evening.