I received some emails of concern, so I thought I’d address this head-on:
Yesterday a state of emergency was declared in Bangkok due to the ongoing Red Shirt nonviolent political protests. The group is looking to dissolve the parliament and install their leader, who had previously been deposed by the Yellow Shirts a few years back. That is pretty much all I know. While we were there, Bangkok was hustling and bustling with people. Among them were many of the “Red Shirts” who had set up tents with signs and loud blaring speakers. For the most part, they kept to themselves. At the most, they blocked up traffic on their motorbikes.
Either way, we got out of there yesterday. Not because of this situation at all but because we wanted to do other things. I’ll be back in Bangkok on Tuesday briefly to fly out to Tokyo, and neither Christine nor I are concerned. The Red Shirts primarily do this stuff on the weekend to disrupt tourism, hurt the economy, and put pressure on the Thai government. This is not to comment on their messages or the importance of either side’s missions; it is just to say that we are safe, and we don’t expect it to impact Monday as well.
Anyway, we’re having breakfast and then off to see some elephants. More later!