Crowds of mourners braved overnight downpours as they crushed into Bangkok’s old quarter on Wednesday to secure a vantage point for the funeral of late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a spectacular event one year in the making. King Bhumibol, who died last year aged 88, will be cremated on Thursday on a royal pyre within a cremation complex of gold pavilions in front of Bangkok’s Grand Palace, in a ceremony that is expected to draw about 250,000 mourners. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the country would hold a general election in November, the most precise date he has given yet for the vote since taking power in a 2014 military coup.