Mourners wait in line to pay respect to the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 13, 2017. Friday marked the first death anniversary of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej nationwide. The Thai Government has made October 13 an annual public holiday to commemorate King Bhumibol Adulyadej's passing away on Oct. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Mangmang)
BANGKOK, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Thais flowed into Siriraj Hospital, where King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away, to mourn the revered late king as Friday marks the first anniversary of his death, while religious ceremonies were held across the kingdom on the same day.
A phalanx of Thais, all in black, were seen standing in a 89-second silence at 3:52 p.m. local time, the exact time when the king passed away last year at the age of 89, as Bureau of the Royal Household announced.
The October showers in Thailand did not stop them from waiting there until it was the exact time.
They were joined by more people across the country, as Thais stood in silence in shopping malls, office buildings, metro stations, airports, etc.
At about 5:00 p.m. local time, Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn came to the Grand Palace, located in the heart of Bangkok, to attend a religious ceremony to mourn the late king. The ceremony was broadcast live through every TV channel of the country.
Monks were chanting throughout the ceremony.
Earlier, Thais were seen taking pictures of a placard full of the late king's portraits set in the Siam Square in downtown Bangkok. They also paid their tribute to the late king online and changed their online profiles to black and white pictures.
"The sky is dark, our father slept and left us, our tears flood Thailand, I pay my tribute to you, my father Bhumibol," a netizen wrote on Friday.
Some Chinese descendants living in Thailand's Phuket wrote a poem in Chinese to pay tribute to the late king and placed it in a placard outside Jui Tui Shrine.
"The world is crying because of the cremation to come, and we humbly say farewell to Your Majesty, who would travel on a dragon to the heaven, to Mount Meru," the poem goes.
The late king's cremation ceremony will be held from Oct. 25 till Oct. 29 with the cremation scheduled for Oct. 26.
