Travels in Thailand

To escape the curfew in Bangkok some of the ex-pats decided to take a trip to the beach at Hua Hin. After dinner we were in a taxi headed for the night market in the city. We were waiting for a traffic light when we were suddenly surrounded by about ten motorcycles.

OK, this next part is the gospel truth – the oldest driver was about 12 years old. A lot of the passengers were even younger. I was kind of shocked and asked the other ex-pats what they thought. They pretty much agreed with my assessment. The light turned green and off they went. I will say they looked like they knew how to ride. Oh well!

 

 

I took a motorcycle taxi to make the 5:00 PM ex-pat beer call at Coyotes. The taxi ride was both extremely convenient and exhilarating at the same time. Traffic jams are not  normally a hindrance to a Thai motorcycle driver. If the traffic is at a standstill the driver has lots of options - you can go between lanes, weave around cars and buses, or simply use the sidewalk. We were rarely more than 1 foot from a car or bus or pedestrian, and sometimes my knees actually brushed a vehicle.

After beer call I decided to go get a massage - the decision is easier after four beers. The massage was a therapeutic one and was of the full pressure, deep tissue variety. I won't say I was in pain for sixty minutes - maybe only 40 minutes. However, I do feel more relaxed.

Video from Discover Thailand - http://www.thai-discovery.com/

Last night was the first night of the government imposed curfew - 8:00 PM till 6:00 AM. Tonight they have eased it a bit and it will be 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM.  It’s strange to think I could be arrested simply for stepping outside for a walk, but that is my reality at the moment. I believe the last night of the curfew will be this Saturday - I hope.

It seems there was much less violence in the city today and I could not see any fires. But, I don’t think we are out of the woods yet. I was actually able to walk around a bit today, it was quiet but about half of the shops were closed.My life feels like it is on hold and my world is about five blocks big in any direction. Not having a functioning public transportation system means walking everywhere. I could use a taxi but you can’t predict if they will be willing to take you where you want to go or if you can find a return fare.

Fortunately, everything I need is within my little world. We keep waiting for the political situation to resolve itself but it just drags on.My spirits are good and I can’t really complain.  I am actually in a good situation and my fellow ex-pats are very friendly and supportive. I will be glad to get back to work, hopefully very soon.  Despite the problems I am happy to be here and grateful for this fascinating experience.

I am not really sure how to begin to describe today. But here goes- I got to work around 7:30 AM and almost immediately found out the office was being closed due to the military crackdown on the red shirts. So, I headed back for my apartment and saw a huge plume of black smoke coming from the Rama IV road area about one and a half kilometers to the south of my hotel (pictures in previous post).

The Thai military had made a big push earlier in the morning to get the protesters out of parts of central Bangkok, but the redshirts began setting fire to the tire barricades they built. You can see pictures of the fire in this blog. Apparently, the fighting was pretty heavy at Lumpini Park and we don’t really have a good idea yet of the number of casualties.

Ms. V again graciously invited the ex-pats to her home and as I arrived we noticed numerous large fires burning around the city. Soon we found out that the Sheraton Hotel near Asok BTS station was on fire. That got my attention because that hotel is two blocks or so from my apartment. I decided to head back and get my passport and a change of clothes in case my apartment building became an arsonist’s target.

As I left the hotel to go back to the ex-pat gathering I saw Micah and he pointed to the Asok intersection where we saw a tire barricade that had been set on fire – it was probably 150 yards away. Micah said some redshirts drove a pickup truck full of tires dumped them on the intersection and then set them on fire. We decided to return to Ms. V’s immediately. She lives on the same street as the current Prime Minister and there were a large number of riot police putting on their armor and weapons as we approached her house. We quickly hurried past them.

The rest of the afternoon I spent holed up with the ex-pats, eating barbecue and playing poker.  Ms V. beat us handily but I did manage to come in at second place. We had to leave early because the Thai government has issued a curfew and we had to be inside by 8:00 PM. Fortunately, my hotel was still standing and I made it safely back.

It is stunning to see the Bangkok streets empty. Most all shops are closed and even the lights at Soi Cowboy are turned off. I am afraid that the situation is far from over and we will not be at work tomorrow. Let’s hope for less turbulent times very soon.

See a map of the fires (and me).

The head of our office in Bangkok (we shall call her Ms. V) very graciously invited the ex-pats to her home on Monday. I think she was concerned about keeping us from doing anything stupid and going to see the barricades.  Ms. V offered us a delicious southwestern style buffet and I did pig out a bit. We had a pleasant time but we did get a glimpse of the smoke from the tire fires to the west.

It seems that Monday was a bit of a stalemate between the redshirts and government forces.  It is often difficult to get accurate information and there are lots of rumors flying around. The best I can tell is that there is a lull in the fighting, unfortunately, I simply do not know if it is getting better or worse.

The good news :
No fighting in my area - it has been quiet today. 
The bad news :
We will probably have our first curfew tonight - the Thai government announced it today, the only problem is they did not mention the time we need to be back in our snuggy beds - sigh. I am going out to eat with Micah tonight - I hope the army let's us finish our supper !

It's pretty difficult to get around the city - our only real source of transportation now are taxi's but the drivers have gotten pretty skittish. Micah and I took a taxi to Carrefour's today with no problem - because it is in the direction opposite from the hot zone, but when we tried to get back three taxi drivers refused to drive us back. We told them we wanted to go to Sukhumvit Soi 18 which is where Micah lives. Micah and I talked about it and decided to try and convince one to take us to Soi 23 where I live. This time we got lucky and got home.
Until things quiet down I will have to think twice about going anywhere not in walking distance.

This map tracks the areas of conflict in Bangkok. The red lines are streets/areas held by the protesters, the green are the Thai army. Jim lives off Thanon Sukhumvit, on Soi 23. On this map it is just southeast of the Thanon Sukhumvit and Thanon Ratchadphisek intersection.

Close-up of the map above showing Jim's location. Also the (in)famous Soi Cowboy...

The political situation here has gotten worse. I am fine and don't feel threatened, but here is my limited understanding of what's going on.
- about 17 people have been killed in the fighting in the last 24 hours, several hundred more have been wounded.
- the skytrain and subway have been shut down, but buses and taxis are still running.
- apparently the US embassy is evacuating family members of its embassy personnel and  the Swiss embassy is closing
-my area (Sukhumvit Soi 23) is quiet. The violence is about 2 kilometers away
-one member of our office was forced to leave his apartment due to its proximity to the fighting
-right now the conflict seems contained to central Bangkok 
- there may be some Austrailian tourists are trapped in a hotel in the protest area

On a positive note, the unrest here did not prevent a little beer drinking last night with some work colleagues  ; )

more to come ... 
  

One thing that impressed me about the beaches was the number of stray dogs lounging around. There were probably five resident strays at the hotel in Rayong.
They were well mannered and politely walked around the dining area asking only for seafood treats during our evening feast.  They spent most of the day snoozing in the shade and only came out for a stroll and snack after sundown. They seemed well fed and contented so I think this may be the ultimate R&R spot for Thai dogs.
Another impressive thing were the lizards - they were large and plentiful. At least one or two were close to a foot long. However, they minded their own business and did not ask us for treats.
Finally, it was blast furnace hot at the beach with lots of intense sun - but on the positive side I am starting to brown nicely.