King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Friday departed Bangkok for the first time in almost three years on an excursion to nearby Ayutthaya province. Bhumibol, 84, left in a convoy of cars and vans from Siriraj Hospital, where the king has been undergoing constant medical care for various ailments since being admitted in September 2009 with pneumonia. The king, who has reigned for 66 years, headed for the Thung Makham Yong district in Ayutthaya, 100 kilometres north of Bangkok, where he is to revisit a rice field he helped to harvest in 1996. The area is also significant historically as the site where Queen Suriyothai sacrificed her life fighting against an invading army from Myanmar. Bhumibol, deeply revered by the Thai people, is the world's longest reigning monarch. Thousands of people lined up to greet the visiting monarch in Ayutthaya.
