Since I wasn't getting answers from anyone (including the internet) about the appropriate dress code for the King's birthday, I just wore the one and only dress I have with me, which is black, and borrowed a wrap from one of the models in case bare shoulders were not appropriate. As it turns out, the shoulders were fine, but it was the black that was somewhat inappropriate. As the color of Monday in Buddhism, yellow is very important because the King was born on a Monday. Black, as you may have guessed, is the color of death.

Yeah, I know. I felt like an idiot for about 30 seconds, particularly when standing on stage in front of an entire Thai nation clad in yellow, that is until I started speaking with the woman pictured.

She told me that the King said, "It isn't the color you are wearing, but it's what's in your heart that counts."

Cliche perhaps, but it made this little Westerner feel much better about her ignorant wardrobe selection.