n14d 58m 19.95077s, e102d 05m 55.08488s—Korat City, Thailand. - Permanent Geographic Coordinates on Waymarking.com

Korat is one of the larger cities of Thailand, situated ~250kms to the north east of Bangkok. Near the centre of this city is the government precinct, which contains the provincial hall, law courts, museum, library, and so forth, plus a number of cultural and social artefacts. One of these is a geographical marker, commemorating the birthday of HM the King of Thailand (Rama IX).

The marker is an apex-truncated, square pyramid (four sided pyramid with the top removed), approximately 1 metre high, dark brown in colour, and is situated on the western side of the central carpark, which services the government buildings in this area. It is directly in front of a large tower clock, making the marker easy to find (pic in gallery).

The dedicatory year given on the marker is 2542, in the Buddhist Era, which converts to 1999 AD. For the sake of simplicity I shall use the Gregorian calendar from hereon. The King of Thailand was born in 1927. This marker commemorates 6 cycles of his life. Each cycle is 12 years, thus 1927 plus 72 gives 1999. Therefore the marker does indeed celebrate 6 cycles of the king's life, his 72nd year, in 1999.

I am unsure why a cycle has 12 years, possibly a reflection of the Thai astrological system, which does play a role in Thailand, and has 12 divisions, as does the western. I have seen the King's 72nd, 12 cycle birthday, commemorated by other means in Thailand. Clearly, it has some import.

I also gather, though I am uncertain of this, that the latitude and longitude listed on the marker is associated in some manner with the time of the King's birth. Yet, the rather high accuracy given on the marker, five decimals of an arc second, is a figure both difficult to measure and is subject to change due to continental drift. The text does mention 'GPS'. If the position was determined via the global positioning system, the pseduo-accuracy given is far greater than can be supported by this method. This being the case, the accuracy given can be taken as no more than a gesture of respect.

This marker is near identical to a geo marker waymarked by myself in the Saraburi province of Thailand (WM93K9), and I am told there are similar markers in Trang and Surat Thani provinces. It is likely that there are more such, all crafted to a model, and all in honour of the King's birthday.

Type of structure: Structure Difference between the post coordinates and your GPSr reading: The differences are within the limits of error. Reason for the coordinates: Commemoration of the 72nd birthday of the King of Thailand.

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