Thailand Travel Plans
September 10, 2008 by nopstar
I’ve received a lot of emails asking whether it’s safe time to head to Thailand. I need to be clear that this is just my opinion, you should consult the State Department website, or your countries equivalent.
I’ve talk to my friends in Bangkok, and all is fine… I would recommend staying well clear of the demonstration area though. I know American’s (don’t get bent out of shape… I’m an American) have this need to see “history taking shape” or being a part of “democracy in action” not this time, stay clear. Samak the sitting Prime Minister has decided to turn up the heat. (Breaking news… Thailand’s Constitutional court has removed the current PM from his post…)
He’s pressed the Military to police the people. Here is the latest update…
The army commander, General Anupong Paojinda, now has special powers to:
* detain and remove people from any location
* deploy troops to help police maintain order
* ban gatherings of more than five people
* impose restrictions on media reports that could “undermine public security”
So that being my only suggestion, that’ll be simple right? Maybe not, as you can see from my nifty map Ratchadomnern stadium is about 3 long blocks away from demonstration area. Is it safe to go to the fights? Yes I’m sure it is. But, this is a big but… if things kick off, the last place you’ll want to be is about 3 long blocks away from the demonstration. Use your judgment.
What are they protesting?
So what the hell is going on? I’m going to give you the abbreviate version. The former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a Military Coup over 2 years ago. His party Thai Ruk Thai (Thais love Thais) was hugely popular with the rural voters. When he was overthrown on widespread corruption charges his party was banned… Several months later the same group of people came together and formed a new party The Peoples Power Party (PPP). Most educated voters recognize this and accuse the current Prime Minister Samak of being a proxy/puppet for Thaksin. These people the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) are staging a sit in, a peaceful protest at the PM’s office. They have vowed not to leave until he steps down.
If you would like an accurate assessment of the situation I would read this article from the BBC
So to recap, don’t cancel your travel plans, you can still train. If you go, try to stay clear of the protest area. Also the most important thing you can do… eat lots of Moo Ping and Kow Neiw (pork skewers and sticky rice) for me.
Have fun.
Samak is a bit of a bastard, but Thaksin is a real shit bag.
Thai politics are real ole school and dirty as fuck. Tons of vote buying, and other sneaky ways of getting into office. They always ban alcohol buying and sellindgon election days because they don’t want people getting loaded for their votes.
I was out there for the recent election in december. The PPP won by a landslide but then a lot of their officers started getting their seats pulled for vote buying.
Their political system is pretty absurd, but our (USA fuck yeah!) own isn’t too off the mark. Who remembers the electoral scandal in ’04?
The moral of the story, politics is a racket.
It just looks so shaky in Thailand, Not like Burma, but the Goverments are changing all the time!!
Oh Yeah NOPSTAR, Check out K1 official website, Buakaw is on the Card for 1 october.
You really make “vote buying” sound like a really bad thing. Sounds like normal democracy to me. People will support those who support them.
Corrupt or not, keep in mind that the Thai economy improved quite a bit under Thaksin.
Why it gotta be American(Why it gotta be black)?!? 555+haha, Yeah them police movin like soldiers!!! The funny thing is if you compare them to US police they look obsolete, but when they get orders they get busy.
I dunno I couldn’t really go back and feel @ home until I spend atleast a night or 2 in lock up555+.
P.s. You think these coups and demonstrations are crazy??? Wait til (allah forbid) The King Passes and the “prIncE” trys to make that move for the throne, That shit is really gonna crack off yo!!! Army and Navy gonna tear some shit up son!
salaam…
in reply to Monsieur Lucas on Thaksin: I favor him because while he was as corrupt as others(more or less) he was actually cleaning things up a bit while others just took money and did nothing. So because he was breaking others ties of corruption his competition(Criminals Political and not) banded together to remove him from his seat of power.
Moral of the story: stay out of trouble and in the ring (or near it. :P). It sounds xenophobic, but unless you’re a journalist, foreigners don’t have much to do near the site of a protest that could turn ugly.