The Redvolution WILL be Televised

What happens to a chicken when you cut off it's head?

Apparently the body runs amok and lights stuff on fire!

The reds have been camping in various popular Bangkok districts for over 2 months now. There have been quite a few of them, at times around 20,000. You can see how this would wreak havoc on a city. Streets have been shut down, entire malls closed, areas enclosed by razor wire. Initially all they wanted were new elections, for a fair shot to get their leaders elected.

One of the problems with this was that these poor protesters from the north were paid to protest. Paid by a corrupt politician, Taksin, who has been in exile for 4 years. Although he did good things for the poor, he might have come about his power by shady means (not unlike many powerful elite in Thailand). He was ousted in a military coup in 2006. Since his entire party (the reds) wasn't allowed to run during the following election the current government has been deemed illegal by the red party.

Back to the present situation. A few weeks into the current red protest/sit-in/occupation the government offered talks to try and reach an agreement with the reds. They were offered elections in 9 months. The red leader walked out of the meetings without even attempting to compromise (the history of bartering has shown that he could have at least talked them down to 6 months). After that there was a large water festival holiday looming. In an attempt to remove the red shirt protesters from popular tourist areas the military was called in. They were supposed to use rubber bullets, but a few soldiers missed that memo and some protesters were killed/injured (along with a soldier or two). Military vehicles were subsequently turned over and burned, not necessarily in that order.

A few random grenades, RPGs, and bombs later the government offered elections in September. That's half the time they offered initially! The reds seemed happy with this solution. The government only asked that the reds abandon their block party and head home to return Bangkok to the status quo. This is when the reds shot themselves in the foot. They made a list of new demands, ordering that the general in charge of the April water festival chaos turn himself in. This is when the Prime Minister and government grew tired of the games. The military began a full scale operation against the reds. They gave fair warning and told them to disperse unless they wanted to deal with bullets. Most of the women and children complied. Buses were arranged to take the fleeing red shirts home.

Not all complied however. Young, poor, angry men were left. With the military closing in they rounded up all of the homemade weapons available to them. This happened to be a lot seeing as the reds had been hoarding tires, gasoline, bottles, and bamboo sticks for months. Tires (or tyres) were lit on fire and rolled towards the military. Red leaders were sniped. Petrol bombs were thrown. More militant youth were sniped. As the army closed in, the red leaders realized they had no chance.

That brings us to today. 2 holidays and 37 deaths later the red shirt leaders have admitted defeat. They turned themselves in and everything seemed on track to be resolved . . . . . but . . . . . . There is still an angry mob of "reds" running through the city center. I wouldn't call them actual reds. I would call them angry young men who want to start a fight. Rioters and mob are words that come to mind. Since their leaders gave up, the fires in Bangkok have tripled. Entire department stores and movie theaters are going up in flames. An 8 pm curfew has been imposed. Bars are closing early!!!

What we see here is the actual motivation of a large part of the crowd at the red shirt protests. I'm not saying that the reds drew these malcontents in there. I'm sure any protest would have done the trick. Without mentalities like these and stubborn leadership I believe all of this could have been peacefully resolved. It's a shame really. The heart of Bangkok is on fire as I write this. I've stocked up on food and beer. The current mob has started setting fire to news stations and supposedly threatened to shoot any press they see on site. This is what happens when the angry mob loses it's leadership. When you threated the press you lose credibility. All of the empathy from the rest of the world has left the table.



PS: I am safe across the river on the outskirts.

Pandas

There's a TV channel here that is simply a webcam that records everything Lin Ping does 24 hours a day.
EDIT: Sorry about that second video. I thought it was just the "Sexual Harrassment Panda" stuff from South Park.

Useful Phrases

I've been slacking on learning Thai lately. I'm posting this to gently remind myself to do better. These are the words and phrases that I use the most right now:

"All Numbers" - A must when bargaining.

"Turn Left/Right" - Can't get home without this.

"Go Straight" - See above

"How Much is it?" - Another bargaining must.

"A little" - My response when asked if I can speak Thai.

"I don't understand" - My response when taxi drivers talk too much.

"I'm hungry"/"I'm full" - Fun at a restaurant.

"Very Good" - Subtle praise.

"I like it" - To express myself.

"This/That" - Another shopping phrase.

"Can/Cannot" - More self expression.

and many more.

I want to learn some more conversational stuff. I also want to get better at Thai grammar. I guess I have at least another year for that.

"Hello/Goodbye" - Useful at the end of a blog post.

Persuasive Essay

Dear Manny, Chris, Dan, Dave, Dave, Justin, et al . . . .



That's Ching. He is one of the owners of the "Memories bungalow resort" in Khao Lak, Thailand. The bungalows (that's them in the back) are set in the forest that opens up to the beach with 3 awesome things:
A: A consistent beach break which is fun for beginners, out of shape surfers, or old pros.
B: A sweet bamboo bar and restaurant with great cheap food and drinks.


C: kick ass sunshine and dogs and hammocks . .

OK, so that's more like 5 things, but you get the idea. The bungalows are a bit of a camping experience. There are shared toilets and showers and no air con, but if a group of us took the place over for a week or so it would be loads of fun! The waves roll in around 8:30 am and at 5-6ish at night. 2 sessions per day!! We can entertain ourselves at the bar/beach in between. Oh yeah, the bungalows cost about $10 US a night, the food is around $3 a plate (Thai curries, fried rice, with some western options as well), and the bus trip there is around $30. Apart from airfare and time, everything here is really cheap.

There's another reef break a few K (kilometers, this is Asia) up the beach that is more consistent and bigger. The waves died down when we were there so we never got to check it out but Ching was itching to take us. Khao Lak is on magic seaweed now!

If we get tired of surfing one of the owners is a guide for the Ancient Tropical Rainforest that's about 70 km away.



You can hike in to the reservoir that's surrounded by crazy jungle full of wild elephants, tigers, and bears (oh my!). We didn't see the big three on our day hike, but there were plenty of monkeys, lizards, and bigger lizards.



Dan almost stepped on one of these on the path!! It was HUGE.

In conclusion, we should go here. It rules.