Keep your head down......y

Terry and I were aware of the protests against the govt. They've been an issue for several months and have started to drag on the economy.  There are flare ups and lulls.  The hope has been that the lulls will become the norm and the whole thing will peter out all together.  Unfortunately, the flare-ups have been more destructive and costly in terms of human life.  Historically, the Thai people do not like the leaders who take advantage of them.....they do not sit idly by.

Travel reports and blogs warn to be aware of your surroundings in order to stay safe.   So we tried to do that......but Bangkok is a big place.  There was no map that identified the protest areas.  Our first foray into the city was by skytrain.  We got off the train and down below saw thousands pup tents.  The building in back of the tents was a national sports arena.  I'm a sports fan  So naturally I thought here was a sporting event....I'm thinking maybe thats something we could take in.  But no.  As it happens, this in the first of many protest camps and not a very big one at that.  The protesters have also camped out in the street, essentially shutting down and/or disrupting traffic.  The police have cordoned them off with fences that run down the middle of the street for blocks and blocks.  If you are on the outside of the protest area, you either enter their area or you walk a half mile or more around the fenced area, just o get to the other side of the street.  We entered the protest area which looks like any other market selling food, trinkets.....everything else a normal market has to offer.  However, the t-shirts were different....they read "We shut down Bangkok" and "I love Thailand" and "Restart Thailand".  Generally speaking, the protests were calm while we were there.  But the day we left the traffic was horrible and there were many ambulances, which was odd.  We learned that afternoon that a clash between the protesters and the police resulted in lose of life and many injuries.  The protesters threw a grenade at the police and the police shot back.  The lovely smiles and congeniality of the happy Thai people doesn't seem consistent with grenades and bulletts.  I dont want to be naive here, but maybe everyone gets a piece of what they want and the conflict can resolve.  More later.