Flags will immediately be lowered to half mast and people will be expected to wear black or very dark clothing. When the supreme patriarch of Thailand, the top Buddhist monk, died in 2013, tourists wearying bright floral attire were asked to change. Bars will shorten their opening hours and some might close altogether. Alcohol sales will be severely limited to certain times of day. Large events such as music concerts will be postponed.
“There will be sort of country-wide shutdown in the sense that normal economic and social activities will, for a prolonged period, come to revolve around the funeral of the king,” said Paul Chambers, an academic from Chiang Mai University who has researched politics and the monarch in Thailand.