The situation in Bangkok has ramped up again. Red Shirts maintain the protest they began over two months ago and the government’s patience is wearing thin. While I was there in March — oddly enough arriving on the same day as many of the Red Shirt protesters — things were quite peaceful and the protesters were scattered around various parts of the city. There was a sense of tension but, other than some traffic problems, the situation didn’t really affect one’s ability to go about their business in Bangkok.
Toward the end of my time in Bangkok, I began to see a few more scenes like this one — streets blocked off and guarded by police. Still, only one tour stop was cancelled due to these blockades. In other parts of the city, life went on as usual. After I left, things began to heat up and violence erupted. Eventually, as I understand it, the protesters regrouped in one area, just a few blocks from where we had dinner at a rooftop restaurant just a few days earlier.
This is the view from that terrace toward where the protesters now have their camp. This area is approximately the intersection of the red lines on the map in this article posted on the BBC site. (The shot at the top of this post was taken from the same place on the same evening but is looking the other direction.)
A writer I have traveled with in the past, Kevin Revolinski, has been living in a borrowed condo not far from this part of Bangkok and has been posting some reports of the recent events on his blog. It’s odd to feel so connected to a situation happening half way around the world but the combination of having been there so recently and knowing the area somewhat, along with reading these reports of violence written by someone I know who is still there and whose voice I can hear in my head as I read the posts is all very disconcerting. I can’t claim to know exactly what’s going on or who’s firing live ammunition (police or terrorist snipers trying to elevate the tension?) but I hope for the best for the people of Bangkok and all of Thailand. It’s a beautiful country full of wonderful people — gracious and welcoming.
It is the warm people that I’ll remember and it is them, and the amazing places I visited, that I will continue to tell people about, encouraging them to visit for themselves in the future.
