Chulalongkorn Day
We are Thursday today, but Cha-Am is swarming with people. It is indeed a public holiday, Chulalongkorn Day, which commemorates the day the King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) died, in 1910.
Under his reign, Siam had become a semi-modern country and continued to escape colonial rule, at a time when the British and the French were competing to extend their influence in Asia. Thai people are still very proud to be the only country in Southeast Asia not to have been colonised, and for this reason Rama V is still worshipped today like a semi-god. You can see his pictures in many houses and shops, and on October 23, like today, many people gather around the places where there is a statue of Rama V to make offerings, in the hope of having their wishes fulfilled.
You can see a statue of Rama V a few kilometers south of Cha-Am, in the direction of Hua Hin, next to Maruekhathayawan Palace (click here for the exact directions).