Chillin'

It's been a rather quiet couple of days here in Bangkok.  Yes, there are still massive protests, but they've been mostly peaceful as of late.  Just to keep you current, here's a short list of semi-relevant Thai political items from recent days.

• Some gun fire has been reported late at night in a few locations around Bangkok.  Nobody injured.
• "Red Shirt" leaders (supporters of the current government) are calling for nation wide demonstrations on Jan 29 to show support for the current government. 
• Northern rice farmers (traditionally red shirts) are protesting AGAINST the current government over  lack of payment from a government rice purchase program.  The program is out of money and rumored to be plagued by corruption.
• A red shirt leader in northern Thailand was shot up by a machine gun drive by shooting.  He's expected to survive.  It's not clear which side shot him.
• An election is scheduled for Sunday Feb 2.  We'll likely find a nice quiet beech that weekend in case things get ugly in Bangkok.

Moving on to the real danger going on in Thailand.  The cold.  Today was the coldest day in Bangkok in 30 years!  It was 59 degrees Fahrenheit when I got to work this morning.  Many of you reading this will not understand, but people in Thailand are actually dying from the cold.  Bangkok has been cool and comfortable, but northern Thailand has been colder.  Some places even saw frost this week.  The Thai government reported there have been 63 deaths from the current cold snap.  That's roughly 10 times the number of deaths caused by the protests so far!  The government has declared a "cold disaster zone" in 45 northern provinces.

Protesters and motor cycle taxi drivers have been spotted warming themselves by campfire in Bangkok's streets.

Mary and I enjoyed burgers at a local open air restaurant tonight. Yes, Mary has a sweatshirt on.

Q&A Time, Plus an Emergency Decree

I've received questions from a few of my US coworkers who are planning to travel to our factory in Thailand in the coming days and weeks.  I sent personal emails back to those of you that contacted me, but as others may be wondering the same things, so I'll answer a few questions here as well.

Q: Is it safe to come to Thailand right now?

A: Yes.

Q: Is the airport safe?  

A: Yes.  The airport is not in Bangkok.  Political violence has been contained to protests in Bangkok and Nonthaburi provinces.

Q: Is the factory in Ayutthaya safe?

A: Yes.  Ayutthaya has seen some small pro-government demonstrations, but nothing large and no violence.

Q: Should I cancel my trip to Thailand?

A: That is up to you, but I do not see any reason to cancel a trip right now.  On a side note, we're currently experiencing the most pleasant (cool) stretch of weather that I have ever experienced in Thailand.

Q: Is it okay to rent a motorbike, ride to Bangkok, and join the protests on the weekend?

A: No.  Driving a motorbike here is very dangerous.

Other news:

The government declared a state of emergency starting Wednesday Jan 22, effective for 60 days.  The decree covers all of Bangkok, and parts of Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, and Samut Prakan provinces.  This gives the government the power to impose curfews, censor media, detain suspects without charge, ban political gatherings of more than 5 people, and declare parts of the capitol off limits.

Q: What does this mean for people coming to Thailand?

A: It's best to stay out of Bangkok.

Q: What does this mean if I'm traveling to Ayutthaya or other parts of Thailand?

A: Nothing, besides stay out of Bangkok

Q: What does this mean if you live in Bangkok?

A: I'll let you know tomorrow.

Last but not least, I like to include pictures in my blog posts.  So here you go.  Bangkok's dumbest tourists:

Weekend Update

Mary stayed home from work on Friday recovering from food poisoning that managed to wipe out a good percentage of the staff and students of the Australian International School.  This combined with the current political situation encouraged us to just chill at home on Friday night.

On Saturday we did manage to get out quite a bit though.  I headed out with some friend in the morning to explore a protest-free area of Bangkok that I had never visited.  Sadly Mary had a meeting with a parent of one of her students on Saturday morning and wasn't able to join.  She missed a great time.  We can see the nearby Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park from our condo, but have never been there mostly because it is on the other side of the river and is not particularly easy to get to.

12 of us met up at 9 AM near our condo and took taxis down to the river.  We caught a long tail boat across the river and rented bikes to explore the area.  It was amazing!  It felt like we were biking through the jungle hours away from the city!  We also explored a local floating market, and had lunch and a few beers at a beautiful riverside restaurant (beautiful if you ignored the oil refinery across the river).

Later in the afternoon I joined back up with Mary and headed out for an evening of bowling to celebrate one of her co-workers birthdays.

We continue to be cautious of protest areas.  There was another daylight bombing today near the Victory Monument protest site.  28 people were injured, some seriously, when two Russian RDG-5 grenades were thrown.  This is the same type of grenade that was used in the blast on Friday that injured 30+ and killed 1.  This is about a mile down the road from our church.  We did still go to church tonight without incident.

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.

The New Normal

It doesn't look like the protests will be ending any time soon and the city of Bangkok seems to be settling in to a new sort of normal.  Avoid certain intersections (or you will be stuck in traffic), don't stay out late at night (more shooting and bombs last night), and life can go on more or less as normal.

The huge daytime protest crowds from earlier this week have dwindled (people do have jobs), but large crowds are still coming out in the evening after work.  The pictures below are morning and evening shots at the Asok intersection near Mary's school.

Traffic patterns are still different, but overall congestion is returning to normal levels as people head back to work.  Note the 8 lanes of Rama IV Raod below now terminate at the intersection with Sathorn / Wireless Roads in the distance rather than continuing on through the Lumpini rally site.  This has created a traffic headache for me, even at 5:45 AM when I leave for work.

In many ways things are not all that different from normal though.  Mary and I went for a walk this evening in Lumpini Park.  People were out jogging, playing badminton, attending zumba class, and enjoying the sunset.  The southwest quarter of the park is also home to a protester tent city.

We continue to get regular news updates from our favorite blogger, Richard Barrow.  He has a new toy, a drone mounted camera.  The pictures below are from him.  Check out his twitter feeder for ALL the latest protest details and additional awesome photos.  https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow

Also, if you haven't yet figured out what to buy me for my birthday in June, start looking at drones.

Finally, one more set of pictures from twitter.  New today are the military bunkers set up on elevated walkways around town.  As always, we will keep you posted with any new developments.

Bangkok Shutdown: Day 3

This morning when we woke up we discovered that the second night of the protests were not as peaceful as the first. While there were no fatalities and only a few injuries, there was one shooting and a bombing overnight. The bombing targeted a democrat leader's home and it's unsure who was the target of the shooting. Needless to say, the tension in the city rose just a bit. Here's articles from the news about each incident: Bombing, Shooting

Despite these incidents of violence, we still feel very safe at home and comfortable with our commutes to work. Mine has taken me a bit longer since I stop to take photos or just to people watch. Even though my school is very close to one of the main protest sites, it's nestled back into a very quaint neighborhood. Most of my students walk to school. So, as the protesters marched down the main road today-just a quarter mile away- we could only hear the faint sound of whistles.  

Left- Asoke in the AM, Top right- Asoke Mid-Afternoon, Bottom right- Asoke evening.

As my students were eating snack and working on math, this was going on up the street. A co-worker of mine took these. The man on the far left is Suthep- the leader of Bangkok Shutdown- accepting money from a supporter.

Greg reported that his drive to work was longer than normal and his drive home was nearly normal. The main intersection where he makes a U-turn to go back down and enter the expressway was being manipulated by protesters to set up a block using sandbags and tires. Judging from the traffic flow and pictures on twitter they succeeded. We were content we both got home safely and we found our local grilled chicken and sticky rice lady for a nice dinner at home. 

Rama IV Road- just down from us. Lumpini Park is on the right behind the red fence.

As always, please for Thailand and it's people. Good night :-)

Bangkok Shutdown: Day 2

The covers of the two major English papers in Bangkok 14/1/2014

As we woke up this morning, we discovered that the first night of "Bangkok Shutdown" was peaceful and uneventful. As I walked to school this morning, I saw tents pitched where there are usually street food carts and more people than cars at the main Asoke intersection. With low's in the upper 60°F's, I hoped people brought enough blankets.

Good morning

The left picture was taken this morning around 7:15am, the other about a month ago around the same time. 

We have kept and will keep up to date on the protests as best we can via news websites and twitter. The pictures you see here are from twitter and from me. The groups today may have seemed less dense, but it was reported that many of the groups did marches out to specific government buildings during the day. The group down our street at Lumpini Park walked by our building to and from the Thai Customs Building near the port. The crowds at all locations were expected to swell again after the work day concluded.  Judging by the pictures posted tonight, those predictions were true.

Around the Asoke intersection this afternoon. There was no shortage of people selling whistles, arm bands, stickers, you name it with the Thai flag. 

Left- This afternoon around 3:30, Right- Around 7pm this evening

Greg's commute today was more normal than yesterday's, but still not as heavy as an average day. With the lighter traffic overall, the cooler temps even have the air feeling much cleaner than usual. It may even dip down below 60°F one evening this week!

As we pray for the peacefulness to continue, we will try to get this updated.