WRITER: GLEN V. CHATELIER
Dr. John Barnes, assisted by Mr. Glen Chatelier, conducted a one-day Purposeful Tour for ten students from Timor Leste on April 27, 2025. One objective of the tour was to expose students to Temple site tourism and highlight the core elements of architecture and faith structures of Buddhism, which Thailand prides itself on. To that end, Wat Sraket and the Golden Mount were visited.
The second objective of the tour was to highlight the importance of the Chakri Dynasty, especially during the reign of King Prajadhipok and Queen Rambi Barni. This objective was more than fulfilled on the visit to the King Prajadhipok and Queen Rambi Barni Museum, where the scholars were shown artifacts and photographs of the Chakri Dynasty during the reigns of Kings Chulalongkorn and Prajadhipok.
A detailed discourse by the Museum Guide further highlighted the circumstances of the 1932 Coup d’etat, which influenced King Prajadhipok to yield Democracy to the Thai people, then sojourn to England with his Queen, and finally abdicate the throne in 1934.
Architectural facets of the Democracy Monument were also discussed, after which the scholars were led to a replica of the Chalerm Krung theatre, Thailand’s first movie house, to view a documentary on the reign of King Rama VII.
Penultimate visits were then held at the Pan Fifa Lilat Bridge, the Mahanakorn Fort, and Democracy Monument, after which lunch was taken at a restaurant adjacent to the Democracy Monument.
Overall, the Purposive tourism event added value to the learning of the Timorese Scholars in that it modelled possible tourism themes for them to pursue when they return to Timor Leste to lead the initiatives of their country in upscaling the tourism industry.
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