Thailand

Things are very tense here at the moment!! The PAD are refusing to leave Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports and the PPP (Ruling Government) are refusing to stand down. Last night tanks were spotted on Bangkok streets and ten buses full of troops were seen leaving Prachin Buri which added fuel to the rumours about the possibility of another coup. So far today, we have heard that Mr Somchai (The Thai PM) has authorised the use of force by the police to disperse the PAD who have responded by stating that there will be chaos in central Bangkok (They are threatening to block traffic at 50 intersections which would bring the entire city to a standstill) if the police move against them and that they are prepared to 'fight to the death'. In my opinion The tragedy here is that it's the Thai people's blood on the streets whilst the two leading factions battle it out using words, the media and anything else at their disposal. I guess the big question is are the two sides man enough to call a truce and sit round the negotiating table (which I feel is going to have to happen at some point anyway) before any more innocent lives are lost?

We are fine so please don't worry. We are at least a 30 minute drive from both airports so are no-where near the main trouble spots. Last night we were told to stock up on money, food and water as a precautionary measure which we did (Note to self: Don't let Chris do the stocking up ever again....he came back with what he loveingly called 'panic bought' donuts and ice-cream....honestly!!).

PAD

Last weekend whilst I was away in the back of beyond (I'm still trying to work out how to blog about my trip - please be patient with me) Chris had his own adventure here in Bangkok. It was the funeral of King Bhumibol's sister Princess Galyani and Chris decided to make his way down to the Grand Palace to pay his respects.










For those of you that don't know....the Grand Palace is not a million miles away from where the PAD protesters are camping out at Government House (They took control of Government House in August and are still there). Curiosity got the better of him and, safe in the knowledge that nothing would happen to him the weekend of the Princesses funeral, he decided to go have a nosey!!







He was walking past taking a few photo's when one of the guards (these are PAD supporters that volunteer to guard the entrances) spotted him and invited him into the compound!! He said he had never seen anything like it!!! There was a huge sound stage where the main organisers spoke (and speakers dotted around the whole compound so their supporters could hear what was being said regardless of where they were), tents were pitched up around the grounds, buses with their wheels removed blocked road entrances, tyres and sandbags blocked smaller entrances and there was razor wire all over the place!! He did laugh when he spotted this. I think I would have probably found it a bit scary but he said he just found it absolutely fascinating!! Aren't his photo's amazing












He also stumbled upon a temple with a huge standing gold Buddha that neither of us even knew existed....that's something that we both love about living here....you go out for the day and it never turns out exactly as you expect!!

Never a dull moment....

I'll start with the politics - A judge ruled today that Mr Samak and his entire cabinet have to step down because they are in violation of the constitution - The judge stated that 'his position as prime minister has ended'. So that's that then....except it's not....It's never that simple!! The ruling won't come into force for another 30 days and even then Mr Samak has not been banned from standing again for PM and the ruling party, that he is head of, have vowed to re-appoint him. It's never ending!!! Mr Samak has been found guilty of this violation because he received money from a private company to host a cooking show. (He hosted it for seven years before becoming PM and for two months after although he says that he only got expenses for the two months)


In other news - we spent Friday night in a hotel at the top of our Soi.....No, we had not planned a lovely romantic evening.....we just couldn't stay in our apartment!!! Let me explain....Chris really wasn't well on Friday (God only knows what he had eaten....all I can say is that I'm glad I hadn't had any of it!!) so had had to take the day off work. We were having friends over for dinner on Saturday night and I had just finished making soup when the power went off (this was at 4.30pm). Some pillock had cut through a wire which then left the entire Soi without power (Why they had decided to play with electricity cables in the middle of a thunder storm is beyond me but hey....) If Chris had been feeling ok then we would have just laughed about it and gone to the pub or out for dinner but there was no way he would have managed either!! The longer we waited the hotter it got (no air con, no fan) and the hotter it got the worse he felt and the grumpier I got (I'm not the worlds most sympathetic person when I'm overheating).....by 9.30pm we had both had enough!! We got some overnight stuff together and went to a hotel called S15 that is across the road at the top of our soi. Stepping into that air con reception was just divine....and we actually ended up in a junior suit (We've been hearing reports of people cancelling holidays here because of the political situation so we were given a special rate at the hotel).....it was just a shame that we couldn't really enjoy it!!

Thankfully the power was back on when we got home on Saturday or I would have had to phone our friends to say 'Dinner is on but I'm going to have to cook it in your house!!'

Fun and Games

Well, Thailand hit the worlds headlines again last night when over 30,000 protesters took to the streets of Bangkok, invaded a state-run TV station and took over Government House demanding that the current Government of Thailand step down. The protest was organised by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) who say that the current Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is a proxy for ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra who was outsted in the 2006 coup.

We knew when and where the demonstrations were happening so avoided that area yesterday (Bangkok is a big place so that wasn't so hard to do) but I was unprepared for the phone call from Chris announcing that there was to be a 6pm curfew in the city and that he had been told to pack up his stuff and go home - Samak had given the protesters a deadline of 6pm to disperse or he was going to send the riot police in. To be honest we were worried that there was going to be violent clashes and another coup but thankfully that's not happened - the riot police did go into the building and there were a few scuffles but no-one was seriously hurt. It appears that there is some kind of Mexican stand off at the moment....the demonstrators are still inside Government house and the police are still outside!! I'll keep you updated when we know more but in the mean time....life goes on as normal....Chris is at work today and I attended my first Operation Smile Meeting as a Board Member.