Military coup in Thailand

[geosname]

OK so another update....

The curfew has been lifted in Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui which will ease the tension on tourists. It does nothing for locals who dont live in the areas listed which are predominantly yellow areas. There were no army visible when I went to the dentist again today but there were a few military Hummers zipping up and down the main road into Khon Kaen.

The lifting of the curfew creates a false impression of the situation, tourists spend most of their time and money in the areas listed and the locals will benefit from that, but it wont be long before resentment sets in. It will however allow the pay offs to continue.

The police were out and about doing their monthly collections although today will probably be the last day until June 27th, last friday of the month, pay day.

[geosname]

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-27694968

Does this remind anyone else of the Village?... No6?

[geosname]

It seems some local countries are backing the military junta in Thailand... Burma, Vietnam and China... democracy lives on...?

 

A massive downturn in tourism has been predicted.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

It seems some local countries are backing the military junta in Thailand... Burma, Vietnam and China... democracy lives on...?

 

A massive downturn in tourism has been predicted.

 

My friend who I mentioned I'm going to visit is Finnish and heads up her company's Nordic tourism company. She is furious that Finland is one of the countries advising their nationals not to travel there :(

[geosname]

My friend who I mentioned I'm going to visit is Finnish and heads up her company's Nordic tourism company. She is furious that Finland is one of the countries advising their nationals not to travel there :(

 

The fact the army are doing search and seize, closing boarders, detaining people doesnt worry her... just loss of business... you sure she isnt Thai? It would explain a lot.

[geosname]

REP... ask her if she knows any of the history of the army being in control in Thailand?.. about the camps, the disappearances, the censorship.

Ask her who she pays off and has it changed yet?... one of the reasons the country is in such a sorry state is because democracy only changed the owner of the hand held out ready to grasp.

If she says she pays no one she is being economical with the truth... everyone pays.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

REP... ask her if she knows any of the history of the army being in control in Thailand?.. about the camps, the disappearances, the censorship.

Ask her who she pays off and has it changed yet?... one of the reasons the country is in such a sorry state is because democracy only changed the owner of the hand held out ready to grasp.

If she says she pays no one she is being economical with the truth... everyone pays.

 

I wouldn't imagine she would know all that much as she's only been over there two years.

 

I've just sent her a message so we will see but she's never mentioned having to pay anyone off as she did the Bulgarian mafia when she was in Sunny Beach (I went with her once, the guy was tiny, have a massive muzzy and a terrible sense of humour!).

[Caz or caz123]

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-27694968

Does this remind anyone else of the Village?... No6?

 

It's mad! If I'm honest, as I said, I don't really know very much about the situation. I think a lot of us are like that. We live our lives not really thinking too much about what other people are going through. Of course there's always lots in the media about the poor life some folk have in parts of Africa, India and places like that but , as far as I've seen, nothing about Thailand. Or perhaps I just wasn't looking. That's why I wanted you to carry on with your reports. So what effect does all this have on you and your wife in your day to day living?

[geosname]

It's mad! If I'm honest, as I said, I don't really know very much about the situation. I think a lot of us are like that. We live our lives not really thinking too much about what other people are going through. Of course there's always lots in the media about the poor life some folk have in parts of Africa, India and places like that but , as far as I've seen, nothing about Thailand. Or perhaps I just wasn't looking. That's why I wanted you to carry on with your reports. So what effect does all this have on you and your wife in your day to day living?

 

Not much at all Caz, we know the score and play the game. Life in the villages carries on no matter what, a slight inconvenience here and there doesnt alter much here because the normality of the west doesnt really exist.

It is illegal to sell sex yet the tourist places are littered with bar girls, boys and ladyboys. Behind patpong market in bangkok there are girls lining the street with numbers on their wrist waiting for the farangs to make a selection. Some of the hotels have catalogues of girls and others for hire.

When I first arrived I saw people living under corrugated tin sheets leaning up against a 5 star hotel on undeveloped land. There is a dump in bangkok, similar to the ones shown in africa, where people live and scratch out an existence. People walk the streets collecting items from bins to sell, bottles, cans, plastic anything.

Women beg on the streets with babies, disabled and deformed people literally crawl along tourist markets pushing a plastic dish in front of them to beg for money...

These are the things most tourists dont see... the beggars are shipped in by the mini bus load and dropped off, usually drugged up to the eyeballs, and collected their pittance being taken from them at the end of the day... the girls being sold are usually from the poor villages, the ones in remote areas where the tourists dont spend their money, sold by their parents or grandparents to put food on the family table, or the runaways who have only one hope of survival when trying to escape the home abuse by fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles depending on who is home when they get back from school... people attending hospital, because they are obviously sick, at 5am after traveling 3 hours, waiting in the queue to see people paying to jump to the front, at 5pm the doctors go home so if you havent been seen you pick a spot, roll out your mat and get some sleep.... I could go on... and on... about people with enough money buying their way out of a prison sentence after killing someone with their vehicle whilst being drunk... I could go on about what the army were like before... or about how cheap life is here but conveying the reality in words always falls short.

I can see people asking why I live here if its so bad... its a question I have asked myself and its difficult to answer... two reasons in the main... Firstly you cant compare life here with life in the UK because the normality, the rules that apply in the west dont have any weight here. Life here is like an unwritten book, blank pages you can fill yourself with whatever you choose, there is no pressure of life here... probably because Im not poor.

Secondly I made a commitment to my wife.

 

Tourists come and go, many think the same rules apply here as they do at home and the laws are the same... sadly sometimes they find they are worlds apart... a westerner found with 30 E tablets in his apartment got 30 years... a man who published a book that sold 2 copies was sentenced to 2 years because it was interpreted to be derogatory about the King... a man who sprayed a slogan on a billboard beneath a portrait of the King got 5 years... a man who killed an elderly cyclist with his car paid 1M Bht to the family and walked free [negotiated by the family through the police].

A lot of the above has nothing to do with the coup but tries to lay the background of the people, the culture and life.

[geosname]

I must be getting paranoid... 3 times I have tried to post youtube links to show news reports of the situation here, one posted by the financial time... 3 times I have suddenly lost my internet connection

 

 

Just because Im paranoid doesnt mean they arent after me....

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

I must be getting paranoid... 3 times I have tried to post youtube links to show news reports of the situation here, one posted by the financial time... 3 times I have suddenly lost my internet connection

 

 

Just because Im paranoid doesnt mean they arent after me....

 

If they don't get you I will! ;)

[geosname]

If they don't get you I will! ;)

 

If your back in the UK between July and October I might just let you... for a celebratory drink at least.

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

If your back in the UK between July and October I might just let you... for a celebratory drink at least.

 

Done deal, all these beers I'm earning, I'm beginning I think I'm popular! ;)

[geosname]

Done deal' date=' all these beers I'm earning, I'm beginning I think I'm popular! ;)[/quote']

 

BEER.......... never touch the stuff

[Caz or caz123]

I must be getting paranoid... 3 times I have tried to post youtube links to show news reports of the situation here, one posted by the financial time... 3 times I have suddenly lost my internet connection

 

 

Just because Im paranoid doesnt mean they arent after me....

 

 

Thanks Geo for this and your previous post. I'll comment them later as I need to go our now but you've definitely made me want to find out more. Why do we always assume that people live the same decent life that we get to live?