My one-night stand in Bangkok could not have been better timed. When I arrived things had been relatively peaceful and quiet as the red shirts were in agreement with the current government in support of new elections. The hotel owner gave me some tips of areas to avoid but convinced me that the city was safe. I wondered quite a bit and I must say that I had a strange feeling looking into the eyes of the military officials there. It just felt odd…like they were in a war. Their eyes gave away an intensity and impending doom that I hadn’t seen before in soldier’s eyes. I actually felt uncomfortable and retired to my hotel room that night knowing that I had a flight the next day.
I spent some time on the skytrain which was amazing – clean, easy to navigate, cheap and fast. And of course the street food was amazing and super-cheap. Pad thai, green curries, red curries, fried noodles, noodle soup…everything was so tasty and spicy.
As luck would have it, my feelings had some validity. The day I left for Phuket the riots started as the military used physical force to move the protestors. The next few headlines in the paper were “Bangok at War,” “Bangkok is Burning,” and “Civil Unrest.” I was very grateful to not have been there during that time.
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