From Bangkok where a relative lives:
This afternoon I took the sky train first of all to Silom Rd, the main street off which Patpong runs. Lots of heavily armed soldiers milling around on both sides of the street who are there to prevent the protesters taking over this main business area, barricades and rolls of barbed wire at different places, far fewer people than usual. The sky train is closing at 8.pm rather than about midnight.
Then I went to the shopping area nearby where the Red Shirts are camped out. Quite amazing, they’ve taken over, closed down whole streets all around this main shopping area. As I walked the length of one sky train station to the next, there way tents and marquees lining both sides of the street, trucks blocking both ends of the street, and barricades made of rubber tires and pointed bamboo sticks. Many of the red shirts lying on mats, talking, resting or listening to the voices of their leaders blaring out through loud speakers.
The largest shopping centre, Central World, is still closed as are 2 of BKK’s main hotels nearby. Extraordinary situation, near anarchy it seems. I should think both the tourist industry and the economy generally will take years to recover from it.
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