As the nation mourns our greatest loss, the Guru team would like to reflect upon His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's long life, achievements and teachings. Although many of us had only the honour of watching his annual speeches on TV or only caught glimpses of his Royal procession passing by, we know His Majesty was much more than a ruler to his people.
We'd like to dedicate this issue to celebrate his life as not only the most hard-working monarch in the world, but the most incredible man Thailand had the honour of calling their King. This cover story illustrates nine noble memories we'll always have of him.
He became King at 18.
May 5th, 1950 was the day the young Bhumibol formally became the King of Thailand at a coronation ceremony. At a time when Thailand was facing political instability, no one could have fathomed how much one man would later earn such reverence from his people through working tirelessly to improve their lives.
He made it rain.
The King studied and researched artificial rain making and out of his own pocket launched the Royal Rainmaking Project and more than 4,000 other Development initiatives that were beneficial to Thailand's economic and social growth.
He spoke six languages fluently.
These included Thai, English, French, Spanish, German and Latin.
He composed 48 pieces of music.
His first piece of music, Saeng Tien, which, when translated means Candle Light, was composed when he was 18.
He was one of the world's longest reigning monarchs.
His reign spanned a long 70 years and he'll forever continue to reign our hearts.
He was a passionate photographer.
His first camera was the Coronet Midget, bought with his own savings at the age of eight.
He had 33 loyal hounds.
We all know about his beloved Khun Thong Daeng but he had quite a few other dogs too. His first pup, a Thai breed, was called Bobby.
He walked along all the paths of our country.
From visiting remote hill-tribes inaccessible by car to trekking through mud-filled jungles, there wasn't an inch of Thailand that he and his Royal Projects didn't touch.
He was a sailor, a skier, a badminton player and an ice hockey player.
Such an honourable sportsman was he that once, not long into a sailing race, he came back ashore because his dinghy hit a buoy - considered to be a foul.
