Tense

The tension in Bangkok has been turned up significantly in the last 24 hours.  There were numerous reports of shooting and explosions last night.  One incident involved a hand grenade quite close to our condo.  We walked through the blast area only 2 hours before the grenade went off.  Fortunately the roadside landscaping took the brunt of blast.  The fact that no body was injured in this incident is actually quite remarkable.  In fact it is so remarkable that I have to wonder if it may have been staged to try and bait the military into getting involved in the current conflict.  I'm not going to discuss that in any more detail on a public blog though

Until recently most violence has taken place late at night, but there were at least two different violent incidents in broad daylight today.  First opposing groups of demonstrators opened fire on each other in Northern Bangkok.  Shortly after that a group of protesters marching through Bangkok was hit by a bomb attack injuring dozens of people, some critically.  This will likely even make the new back home in the US.  There were also reports of another small blast near a protest side on the north side of downtown, but nobody was injured.

Mary was home with stomach issues today and spotted protest groups marching past our condo a number of times.  They even blocked the toll expressway for a short while.  Fortunately this was wrapped up by the time I came home tonight.  We are making a point to stay away from any protest activities whenever possible.