BANGKOK:- Thailand’s new king picked bits of bone and ash from his father’s remains on Friday to be enshrined as royal relics, after the cremation of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej capped an extravagant funeral that brought the nation to a standstill. The lighting of the funeral pyre late Thursday night, which was held out of view, closed the book on the 70-year reign of a monarch who was elevated to saint-like status. The grand send-off, held a year after Bhumibol died aged 88, was a spectacular show of the elaborate, enigmatic rituals that gird a powerful monarchy cloaked in myth and spirituality.