127 replies to this topic

[kakila]

Pattaya was totally fine and no trouble at all, however arrived at Bangkok last night, and taxi driver didnt want to take us even near Nana Plaza (about 3 miles from problems) then when booked in found most things closed and virtually no tourists.

I met up with my girl and then went for a meal, and then in the morning was phoned by reception to say all roads in to this area near Nana are to be blocked too, road was going to be closed around 12 and it was grid locked getting out of there...

from what I am told from friends in BKK

Nana Plaza is closed, I assume Guess Bar is as well.

It is unclear when they will reopen at this stage, maybe other BM's in Bangers may know.

The area I usually stay in Century Park Hotel Ratchaprarop Road, Pratunam-Victory Monument Bangkok was under fire for the last few days with much damage to the hotel. There is a police booth/station on this intersection which has been torched and bombed.

This hotel is a few hundred metre from my partners family house so a bit scary for them from the daily reports we get.

lets hope there is a resolution soon for everyones sake

pela

[rxpharm]

It appears to be coming to a head - troops with armoured vehicles are gathering around the main protest site - probably to a push into it Wednesday am (which is the last day of the declared extra public holidays). Tuesday night the Red Shirt leaders were booed by the crowd when they announced a potential peace plan brokered by a group of Thai senators. Ironic that their own brain washing techniques have worked too well with the protestors, and now they have pretty much hung themselves out to dry no longer able to convince their followers to accept a peace plan they wanted to agree to - after turning down the Abbhisit road map.

In another forum it was reported that some bars at NEP are still open - Cascade has closed, but some of the girls have gone to Obsessions which is open. Not many customers of course.

[sev7en]

Military just stormed the protestors camp..

[mardhi]

And now it is over. 7 Red shirt leaders have surrendered. Martyrs to the end, whilst the cannon fodder in their army were gunned down. So in the future, who will remember what this was about, and who died? Nobody will remember the individuals that actually believed the rhetoric and died during this pointless exercise. Let's hope that the protagonists and the ones giving the orders are held accountable.. Doubtful..

Sadly, one gets the feeling this is not over. One gets the feeling that this will go full circle within 18 months? I knew I should have started the business in Thailand selling face and pride. I could have made a shitload already!!

The irony is that it has already come full circle - the elite have intentionally left the poor dumb and uneducated for generations and its coming around to bite them. i.e they (the poor) are so uneducated that they dont see they are being played as pawns in a much larger game. There is much more to this than the poor versus the elite - its caused by various elite factions each jockying for position as a power vacum will happen at some point in the near future. What is clear is that ALL the eilte groups will be aiming to keep the poor in the same position that they are currently.

Cheers
Mardhi

[batman4ever]

its far from over....

before the reds was under the leaders control....now its tottally chaos were small groups just makes a lot of trouble,,,,,

we aint seen nothing yet.....

[paultain]

its far from over....

before the reds was under the leaders control....now its tottally chaos were small groups just makes a lot of trouble,,,,,

we aint seen nothing yet.....

Yep! Now watch it spread to the other provinces

[Rossco]

I would be intrigued as to the real objective.

The current ruling government (elected or not) did offer an election which was rejected. That was a democratic solution/proposal.

Sadly a large majority of nationals do not have an education sufficient to make reasoned argument, and opinion, so may be easily manipulated.

So what has been achieved?

IMHO nothing. They have, through Nov 2008 until now, destroyed the image and reputation of the country - people feel unsafe to visit.

Forget the mongering but consider the impact on their tourist infrastructure. Hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, markets. The people employed in these places are now redundant (no customers). There is no social welfare so unemployment equates to zero income - really zero.

Other bordering nations are more accommodating of foreigners with respect to visas and home ownership. Why invest in a country that obviously feels foreigners are alien to their needs.

They may not like us but they do need the business that we bring to them. Visitor spending is not just the overhead, of a vacation transport/hotel/dining, but all the other peripheral spending that tourism brings. It is this invisible spending that supports the poorest families in Issan.

However this is just history repeating itself - 1970s, 1980s 1990s.

A very sad day.

[kakila]

its far from over....

before the reds was under the leaders control....now its tottally chaos were small groups just makes a lot of trouble,,,,,

we aint seen nothing yet.....

Yep! Now watch it spread to the other provinces

it already has

Fires in Chiang mai, some other provinces have fires and government buildings taken over by really pissed off people and BKK is a mess

latest news is that there are 20 fires across bkk

mmmm no time to get excited yet and re-book your trip I would be staying home for a month or 2 longer.

I hope all BM's currently in LOS and the LBs we love to visit are all safe.

cheer pela

[kliome]

Yes, it seems very far from over, with chaos on the streets in Bangkok and several other cities, sparked by the surrenders and government action today.

To make matters worse red shirts appear to be gathering in Pattaya. A short while ago Big C and Central both suddenly closed and I noticed some 7/11s and a few other shops locking up.

I'm not sure how many red shirts have or are turning up or what's going on, but I could hear a megaphone from my balcony which I'm told was a red shirt possy.

[Legend]

a friend of mine has just told me on webcam, that the police have ordered sally bar, and everywhere on soi5 to close.
whilst chatting, the police came in and ordered the internet cafe to close.
something is brewing for sure.

[kliome]

Just been told the police have just been down Soi 6, shut down every bar and shop and ordered everyone to go home.

They are trying to put an 8pm to 6am curfew, not sure how successful that will be.

As I write I can hear cars going around with loud speakers, no idea what they are saying as it's in Thai, but doens't sound like they are selling fruit.

The next few days in Thailand should be very interesting..