Lockdown: Day 5

View from my coworker's balcony.

He lives safely across the river with his girlfriend.

Con: Many parts of central Bangkok are currently set ablaze with tire fires used to mask protester positions.
Pro: Bangkok is one of the most polluted cities in the world, so the shut down of traffic for a few days means less smog than the fires. (Taking a stab here. I'm no scientist!)

Life during wartime: You have to look on the upside!

Logs popped his head out Tuesday morning and saw my cousin talking with a mobile fruit vendor in front of our building. We took this as a go ahead and ran downstairs to do the morning dash for food down our soi before the shootings and bombings started. We were planning on making the run to the grocery store by the monument today, but I received a call this morning from work saying the Reds are heading our way to setup in front of a government building one street over.

Close up of our street (top left) in relation to nearby skirmish this past weekend.

On Tuesday morning the military was positioned at the end of our soi to check that people were not walking into the "live firing zone" down the street. Even with all the news and awareness of what is going on, we saw a woman nonchalantly chatting away on her phone walking straight towards the live fire area as if she had just returned from a holiday. A soldier had to stop her and asked where she was heading. AMAZING THAILAND!!!

We debated whether or not to stay in our apartment or get out of town for the week. All of my coworkers who live in the area have either moved further away from the center or gotten out of town completely. We feel pretty safe considering our proximity to the fighting. Our building is also only four stories, which dwarfs us in relation to the surrounding area when it comes to getting hit inside by sniper fire. Logan would like me to mention that our family next door is also stocked with "bread and jam." For some reason the sound of "bread and jam" is very pleasing and soothing to us.

As it stands, people on all sides are angry. Protest leaders are losing their voice as the masses downward spiral into hatred for the government. The military brings in bigger weapons each day (today it is tanks). Civilians who may have had some sympathy towards the cause are sick of the bloodshed and violence. There is not a peaceful end in sight, so we just put our most positive thoughts forward and take each day at a time.


Anyway, I'm getting a little down thinking about it too much. Here is a roundup of some Conflict 2010 memes...

Pro-government/Anti-Thaksin infomap

On Monday, Zeze Na Pombejra posted her "Open Letter to CNN International", which spread like wildfire (my mom e-mail forwarded it to me!). With every huffy letter, there is of course, an even huffier retort, Bangkok Pundit's blow-by-blow breakdown via the Asian Correspondent.


Parents put a Red Shirt shirt on their baby who is standing on a barricade of tires. A lot of people are outraged and saying the protesters are using the baby as a human shield. From my own experience with Thai parenting, this is probably more of a, "hey little baby, let's check out the local scenery" situation without a knowing attempt to use the baby as a shield. I'm not saying it's right, but hey, babies shouldn't be in heavily fired upon areas to begin with!


And finally, no political movement is complete without a slideshow retrospective on the current turmoil with Green Day as the soundtrack of our lives...