Today in Bangkok, Backpacking and the Red Shirts

For all of you thinking that Bangkok is still a safe gateway to Thailand, read on and decide for yourselves. Here is what it’s really  like to be a backpacker amidst civil unrest....

I’ve been in Bangok since early May and the day after I arrived ‘things kicked off again’ with the red shirts, but more recently we’ve seen the worst upheaval to date. 

Demonstrations by red shirt protestors

Firstly, we are staying near ‘On-nut’ skytrain station.  On-Nut sits at one end of the Sukhimvit Line, over Sukhimvit road and holds the dubious title of being the longest road in Thailand (I’ve read it’s the longest  road in the world, but I’m not sure how reliable the source was that provided that information).  It’s certainly the most well known & biggest road in Bangkok, but the violent political rioting of this past week has disrupted this ‘main vein’ of Bangkok.  After a couple of weeks of not much happening, the first I knew of anything having erupted again was on Friday morning when I set off to use the sky train - to find I could only go four stops and that was it.  Pretty much every other station was closed besides those four, and less than 24 hours later they were all closed.

In this end of town taxis are easy to get, markets are operating day and night, food stalls line the streets and shopping centres are as busy as ever.  You could be forgiven for thinking that what’s happening only a few kilometers away, is not really happening at all - for near us life goes on and there’s no sign of black smoke from burning tyres, we can’t hear gun shots or grenades or see armoured vehicles or rolls of razor wire and bamboo spears.

This is just one face of a movement gaining momentum

Yes, we saw the warnings to leave, we’ve heard what the NZ government is advising, and I know the NZ embassy in Bangkok is presently closed, but still I’m here.  I think it’s harder to understand the threats when you can’t see anything around you - except on television. And the Thais in this area are also going about business as usual too! Some of the news reports we’ve read paint it in a different light, making it sound like the whole city’s in lock down mode, hence family and friends at home start panicking that we’re about to get hit by a stray bullet.

I’m not ignorant to the plight of what is going on, and I question myself if I would regret not leaving if it became that bad? The reality is that around us, outside the immediate red shirt zone of Bangkok, life is ticking along.  The only other sign that something is going on was that I was able to cross a very busy road without having to weave my way through four lanes of chaotic traffic - the road was eerily empty.  That was on Monday.

So today’s Wednesday and there seems to be much speculation and mixed reports that things are ‘over’. People inside and out have been glued to TV screens watching the action unfold as it’s televised on (seemingly) every channel.  Not long after midday it was reported that a number of red shirt leaders have handed themselves over to police.  On the other hand, during all this coverage, many ‘experts’ were interviewed - political advisors, economic forecasters etc, and although the outcome of this morning’s invasion from the army may be in favor of the government, there is still a perceived threat from red shirts; re grouping and coming back for more, guerilla warfare, civil war… all of its been mentioned and discussed.

In the meantime, we’re in Bangkok until Friday, when we fly back to Chiang Mai.  The next 24 hours could prove very interesting.  Maybe the 47 countries that had Thailand on a red alert for security risks will be able to adjust the status and things may return to normal – I’ll have a day to witness what comes next.

I hope, for everyone’s sake, that it’s peaceful.

Comments

• dcar says:

  I think the scary thing about a situation like this is that it can change very quickly. I've never personally been in a similar situation. A question for Margo - did you consider not staying in Bangkok with all the civil unrest going on? Why did you decide to stay?

  2 years ago

Comment

Email

Name

Website

Captcha