I know that many of you have contacted me to ask me about the political situation in Thailand, so I will address that now, particularly as the situation got increasingly more interesting this weekend while we were away.
This time we headed away for a weekend in beautiful Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. It’s a great place- a small city of 1 million people with a calm downtown and so many temples it’s easy to lose track. I think it’s even prettier in the rainy season when things are greener.
We stayed with my ladybird’s Thai professor in a cool teak house.
While we were there a few interesting things happened in Thailand. First some context:
Thailand is a country dominated by one city: Bangkok. In recent years there has been a growing disparity between the elites of Bangkok and much of the rest of the country. Some of this is just perceived, but much of it is undoubtedly real. The current government was put into place by a military coup in 2006 which ousted a billionaire telecom tycoon named Thaksin, then prime minister (pronounced “toxin”, the irony is not lost upon the English speaking Thais who oppose him). He was corrupt, but had also accomplished many things for Thailand including economic growth, elevated highways and increased access to mobile phones (thereby fueling his own personal telecom company). In 2006 he was ousted by a military coup because of his corruption and potentially because many elites in Bangkok opposed him.
The recent protests in Bangkok started with the combination of several groups, collectively known as the ‘United front for Democracy against Dictatorship’ or popularly the red-shirts, demanded better representation and a new election (again I am not certain but I do not believe the current government was elected). The government and its supporters (multi-colored or yellow shirts) opposed this idea of shaking the status quo. What started as a protest in a certain neighborhood of Bangkok slowly escalated into an occupation of certain neighborhoods in the city. There was initially some evidence of some protesters getting paid by Thaksin to protest. Most of these people came from the countryside and began protesting in between farming seasons, during the hottest time of the year when there isn’t much to do (see my post on Laos and BeerLaos at this time of year).
Both sides have been ‘negotiating’ for weeks, but it is unclear that either side is willing to make concessions. The red-shirt protest relocated to downtown Bangkok, a stones throw from my office, and promptly fortified their position. The government has been issuing warnings for several weeks now, and there have been some clashes (early April saw some casualties). There was also one incident of grenades being launched at the elevated train I take to work with scores of injuries and one death. As such the situation is decidedly tense. I do not have sufficient space to explain all of the details, but I will say that as we left for Chiang Mai things started changing- a key general in the red-shirts who had defected from the army and was critical to explaining strategy etc. was shot in the head by a sniper while he was being interviewed by a NYTimes journalist, who claimes the bullet "felt like it grazed my head."
This has led the red shirts to become more aggressive, blocking other roads and lighting tires on fire. We were happy to be in Chiang Mai for the weekend as it’s quite stressful in Bangkok. Unfortunately, it is hard to escape the daily saga of the protests, which are consuming the nation (as a coworker of mine said “Why do I need soap operas? The daily news had more action than any fiction”). Most places you go people are watching tv or listening to the radio, where you can see live shots of downtown Bangkok and armed confrontation.
It was under these circumstances the we toured around Chiang-Mai, a up to now largely peaceful place that is a red-shirt stronghold and Thaksin’s hometown. We tried to distract ourselves during the day, but inevitably would watch the political developments in the evenings.
I include a video here of the city pillar festival which we attended at night. You can see a small white thing in the upper right hand corner which is full of blessed water that you can dump on the temple by pulling it up a pully. I did this with my girlfriend and was then told that it means we shall find each other in our next lives! Also note the elephants in the middle of the temple.
Thailand is a country dominated by one city: Bangkok. In recent years there has been a growing disparity between the elites of Bangkok and much of the rest of the country. Some of this is just perceived, but much of it is undoubtedly real. The current government was put into place by a military coup in 2006 which ousted a billionaire telecom tycoon named Thaksin, then prime minister (pronounced “toxin”, the irony is not lost upon the English speaking Thais who oppose him). He was corrupt, but had also accomplished many things for Thailand including economic growth, elevated highways and increased access to mobile phones (thereby fueling his own personal telecom company). In 2006 he was ousted by a military coup because of his corruption and potentially because many elites in Bangkok opposed him.
The recent protests in Bangkok started with the combination of several groups, collectively known as the ‘United front for Democracy against Dictatorship’ or popularly the red-shirts, demanded better representation and a new election (again I am not certain but I do not believe the current government was elected). The government and its supporters (multi-colored or yellow shirts) opposed this idea of shaking the status quo. What started as a protest in a certain neighborhood of Bangkok slowly escalated into an occupation of certain neighborhoods in the city. There was initially some evidence of some protesters getting paid by Thaksin to protest. Most of these people came from the countryside and began protesting in between farming seasons, during the hottest time of the year when there isn’t much to do (see my post on Laos and BeerLaos at this time of year).
Both sides have been ‘negotiating’ for weeks, but it is unclear that either side is willing to make concessions. The red-shirt protest relocated to downtown Bangkok, a stones throw from my office, and promptly fortified their position. The government has been issuing warnings for several weeks now, and there have been some clashes (early April saw some casualties). There was also one incident of grenades being launched at the elevated train I take to work with scores of injuries and one death. As such the situation is decidedly tense. I do not have sufficient space to explain all of the details, but I will say that as we left for Chiang Mai things started changing- a key general in the red-shirts who had defected from the army and was critical to explaining strategy etc. was shot in the head by a sniper while he was being interviewed by a NYTimes journalist, who claimes the bullet "felt like it grazed my head."
This has led the red shirts to become more aggressive, blocking other roads and lighting tires on fire. We were happy to be in Chiang Mai for the weekend as it’s quite stressful in Bangkok. Unfortunately, it is hard to escape the daily saga of the protests, which are consuming the nation (as a coworker of mine said “Why do I need soap operas? The daily news had more action than any fiction”). Most places you go people are watching tv or listening to the radio, where you can see live shots of downtown Bangkok and armed confrontation.
It was under these circumstances the we toured around Chiang-Mai, a up to now largely peaceful place that is a red-shirt stronghold and Thaksin’s hometown. We tried to distract ourselves during the day, but inevitably would watch the political developments in the evenings.
I include a video here of the city pillar festival which we attended at night. You can see a small white thing in the upper right hand corner which is full of blessed water that you can dump on the temple by pulling it up a pully. I did this with my girlfriend and was then told that it means we shall find each other in our next lives! Also note the elephants in the middle of the temple.
Chiang Mai City Pillar Festival
We spent one day out at this really cool elephant sanctuary where domestic elephants are rehabilitated and taken care of (despite their iconic status in Thailand, Elephants are often abused).
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