Woke this morning to the news that martial law had been declared in Thailand.
I listened for the sound of marching, maybe the unmistakeable rumble of tank tracks, but all was quiet. I threw open the curtain, half expecting to see a ring of steel thrown around Spike Towers, but the only sign of life was a soi dog and a drunk Russian.
It was the same when we had the coup, zero military presence in Pattaya. What’s the point of armed intervention if you can’t go and photograph it? There was nothing else for it, if the army won’t come to me, I must go to the army; and I was sure the army would be guarding the airport.
So we jumped in my truck and off to the airport we went. And you know what, not even a bored private picking his nose next to a jeep. Thoroughly disappointed, we decided to jump on a flight to Singapore instead. Expect intermittent updates for the next few days.
Comments 🔗
2014-05-20| Clive saysWith a nation that is as reliant upon tourism as Thailand, it is not in the interests of any party to have a military intervention active for any length of time. We can only hope that whilst things are sorted out that there is no loss of life, on any side.
Having said that, the last time there was significant disruption like this was in 2010, and I remember that my flight to Phuket was discounted by a third, and that I got a fantastic room in a 5* hotel for £19 a night with breakfast thrown in… So from the perspective of an overseas visitor, as long as violent protest doesn’t break out, things aren’t likely to be so bad.
Hope you enjoy Singapore - stay safe!
2014-05-21| Derek saysAh yes. Red Shirt season in 2010, apart from the tragic loss of life and destruction in Bangkok, was certainly a golden time if you were travelling around. Thai Airways were running less than half full so stretching out on a whole row was easy and the Felix River Kwai was doing rooms right on the river and next to the pool for about what you were paying in Phuket. Hotels in BKK were next to dragging you in off the street and paying you to stay. All tempered by that first sight of the burned Central World of course… Last time I looked there were still a lot of camera shops in Orchard Road. Looking forward to a bumper crop of ingenious justifications to SWMBO as to why you absolutely had to and couldn’t possibly not!
2014-05-23| le awesome pete saysI hope your access to camera gear won’t be cut off! ;-) … but seriously: I hope things don’t get too bad!