Tuesday night at around 10.30pm I got a sms from Phil asking me what was going off with the Tanks in Bangkok. I hadn’t a clue what he was on about. 
We turned over to the good old BBC and there it was, a military coup underway about 25 miles away. Something else to add to my life list. The Thai TV stations were all playing patriotic music and showing pictures of the royal family. Radio stations were just playing the music.
My main concern was my impending trip to Cambodia on the 20th; I had to go to renew my visa. When I awoke at 4am, CNN and BBC had been taken off air. The internet was still up and running and I decided to go for it. The drive into Bangkok was pretty normal, less traffic and no sign of soldiers. I got the Bus at 8am for the drive to Cambodia. On the outskirts of Bangkok on the motorway I began to see the armoured vehicles and soldiers. All tooled up and waiting for action.
At the border we only had a minute to do all the paperwork and get back across to Thailand before the land borders were closed, too close for my liking. On the way back we were stopped at manned checkpoints twice and as we got into Bangkok, saw more soldiers.
The drive home was superb, as you can see from the road picture, this part of the expressway at this time in the evening should be bumper to bumper traffic, and I saw about 30 cars the 25km length. About 3km from our house there is a large Air Force base and sports stadium, the Stadium was being used as a staging area for the troops, lots of them and tanks.
The ex PM Taksin who is now residing in his huge London Estate as we speak still claims to be in charge and there are lots of negotiations in the background to try and get all the forces loyal to him, to come over to the new Junta. Thaksin does seem to have been on a self destruct ting for the last few months, he didn't seem to listen to anyone and couldn't see that it was definately time for him to go.
The King seems to have given his approval to the coup and the new Generalissimo as promised a new PM in 2 weeks.
Tourists don’t seem to have been affected in the slightest, and up until now, neither as the exchange rate, I was hoping the Baht would plummet!
So there you go, apart from troops on the streets, everything seems as normal as it can be, but remember this is Thailand, normal doesn’t always mean our normal.
We turned over to the good old BBC and there it was, a military coup underway about 25 miles away. Something else to add to my life list. The Thai TV stations were all playing patriotic music and showing pictures of the royal family. Radio stations were just playing the music.
My main concern was my impending trip to Cambodia on the 20th; I had to go to renew my visa. When I awoke at 4am, CNN and BBC had been taken off air. The internet was still up and running and I decided to go for it. The drive into Bangkok was pretty normal, less traffic and no sign of soldiers. I got the Bus at 8am for the drive to Cambodia. On the outskirts of Bangkok on the motorway I began to see the armoured vehicles and soldiers. All tooled up and waiting for action.
At the border we only had a minute to do all the paperwork and get back across to Thailand before the land borders were closed, too close for my liking. On the way back we were stopped at manned checkpoints twice and as we got into Bangkok, saw more soldiers.
The drive home was superb, as you can see from the road picture, this part of the expressway at this time in the evening should be bumper to bumper traffic, and I saw about 30 cars the 25km length. About 3km from our house there is a large Air Force base and sports stadium, the Stadium was being used as a staging area for the troops, lots of them and tanks.
The ex PM Taksin who is now residing in his huge London Estate as we speak still claims to be in charge and there are lots of negotiations in the background to try and get all the forces loyal to him, to come over to the new Junta. Thaksin does seem to have been on a self destruct ting for the last few months, he didn't seem to listen to anyone and couldn't see that it was definately time for him to go.
The King seems to have given his approval to the coup and the new Generalissimo as promised a new PM in 2 weeks.
Tourists don’t seem to have been affected in the slightest, and up until now, neither as the exchange rate, I was hoping the Baht would plummet!
So there you go, apart from troops on the streets, everything seems as normal as it can be, but remember this is Thailand, normal doesn’t always mean our normal.
Thaksin shopping in London...
No comments:
Post a Comment