Bangkok's Peaceful Protest

Bangkok’s Peaceful Protest

I walked for two days through a camp of roughly 1000 people in tents and food services to support the cause for these democracy hungry people. Some grenades went off and everybody is pointing fingers at each other with no leads. This is not a planned piece of work unless it’s been done to disrupt a perfectly peaceful demonstration for democracy. Tourists are not the focus, actually it’s quite the opposite, they want you to see it, the protesters welcome you in. I’ve got a stack of photos and dialogue that tell a totally different story because you’re afraid. I advise anyone who was coming to Thailand to continue on and DON’T cancel. Children are being lead by their parents down the camps. Do not be fooled. Come to Thailand.

This demonstration is probably the most peaceful demonstration I’ve ever seen. The Royal Thai Army have been deployed and are keeping their distance because violence is not the focus, democracy is the focus. The king over shadows the whole process. The king is in the tents, they love him and he's too old right now to pretty much be active in this whole process. Everyone loves the king, all sides.

These protesters are well organized and have been demonstrating for 6 months, 3 in one location and now moved around the corner from the Democracy Monument.

The English speaking Thai people that I spoke to were all about democracy and welcomed all the tourists to see the system they’ve got going. There are cooking groups, people dropping off water, people handing out food to go and food to those in front of the televisions watching the protest marches maybe too old to actually go to the protest of well over 5 people; a new decree that just showed up amongst a few others.

Meanwhile, the PM has taken her leave and is in Chang Mai. Everybody here is at peace.

If there are more grenades, it’s because someone/people want to upset the perfect balance of Democracy and the way it’s done properly. The Thai government has reacted accordingly, without violence, and trying diligently to make things right.

Streets are blocked off, stores and shops are closed anywhere near the demonstrations and camps. There is no alternative for these people and they are trying to something right. People are coming from all over Thailand to be apart of this. This is the best demonstration I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen too many with teargas, fire, bricks being thrown, armored guards with shields, padding, heavy boots, and helmets fighting against a passive group of sit ins while a second set of armored guards sit in the dark alleys waiting for people who are running from the violence and then being beaten and arrested.

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Bangkok, Burma Tourist Visa And Me

Bangkok and Me

I flew into Bangkok, Thailand with only a few days left on my two-month visa with a one-month extension. I was planning on getting my extension to buy me a little time but as the taxi driver drove near Democracy Monument he had to make some changes due to some of the major roads being closed by the opposition party. Demonstrators waived flags and barked out their slogans through load speakers on the back of trucks inside their barricades.

Travel warnings are springing up from China, Malaysia, Philippines, and the United Kingdom and others will appear now that the caretaker government has called for a 60-day state of emergency on January 22.

Word on the street is that others from the outskirts of Bangkok are coming in to join and support the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (DPRC). Many people I spoke to in the south are angry about the situation and tempted to come to Bangkok to support the cause. Obviously, tensions are high.

Some rules have been issued from the caretaker government to combat the protests, namely, a ban on gatherings of 5 or more people. ‘Newspapers and other media are prohibited from presenting news which could raise public fears or distorting information that could affect national security.’

Since I don’t want to cross that line, go to the January 23, Thursday Issue of the Royal Gazette for the decrees.

For me, most of the immigration offices in Bangkok area are shut until further notice so I will not be getting my extension after all. Getting to the Burma embassy is a trick all by itself considering it’s always on the other side of town. The Burmese embassy accepts tourist visa paperwork and payments between 9am and 12-noon and then you can either, go back and pick it up same day between 3:30pm and 4:30pm or for a few baht less you can pick up your passport and visa the following day.

The Burma Embassy is located at 132 Sathon Nuea Rd. Bang Rak District, Suriyawong. Considering the political situation with the roads being somewhat closed by protestors and the government shutting other roads, the express boat down the Chao Phraya River is the most efficient way to get close and enjoy the sites of the city at the same time.

The sky train is still operational and that is your link to getting close. I got off at the Sala Daeng stop. The Burmese Embassy is very close and Sathon Nuea Rd is listed in the terminal. Of course the local Thai people are also taking advantage of not being on the roads so the boats and trains are packed more than usual. If you get off the sky train and can’t figure it out, hop on a motor bike taxi, not a tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuks don’t always take you where you want to go because they are hired to take you to clothing shops and other less desirable locations. 

If you can find the Sri Mahamariamman Temple on google maps, you are at the other end of the same street as the Burmese Embassy, sitting quietly awaiting 200 or more tourists everyday, not including tour companies with handfuls of passports.

The weather is nice in Bangkok right now, clear skies and cool temperatures. I wish I could stay longer but it looks like I have to come back from Burma to get to Nepal and I probably will have to do my India visa work here in Bangkok before I head out.


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Koh Tao, Thailand

Koh Tao

Koh Tao is a quaint little drinking town with a diving problem. I came here with the intension of diving and getting certified so I could dive in other countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Sulawesi, Borneo and beyond. Due to a lung infection all the above dive tour is put on hold and I’m heading toward Burma/Myanmar instead. I have been to Koh Tao in the past and it was a quiet place with beautiful water and colorful coral just off shore. The beauty of Koh Tao remains and the characters that work and live here are of a special breed difficult to compare. I found a bar with more amazing people with great stories at the Banyan Bar. Sunday Bar-B-Qs and revolving food specials keep the crowd and the drinks lubricate the British banter.

Koh Tao in the last two years has seen an accelerated rate of development to the point that signs used to say, ‘Koh Tao, the best kept secret’, and now the signs read, ‘Save Koh Tao’. Some small examples that lead the change are; there are approximately 2,000 registered residence on Koh Tao while in actuality there are 10,000 people living on Koh Tao not including 10,000 -15,000 tourists passing through at high season and surging youth around full moon parties. Of the residence legal and illegal it’s a delicate balance of foreign dive masters who are paid the most and do visa runs or own 49% of a business and hold permits, the Thai residence are second on the pay scale and the largest number would be the illegal/semi-legal/legal Burmese living here gardening, cooking, hotel cleaning, wait staff, etc. Business owners usually pay a monthly fee to keep the immigration police away. Of course when they do come everybody illegal scatters to the winds and the four corners of the island leaving only the permitted few to mind the shops. Another reason the Immigration police rarely come to this island is because the entire economy of the island would collapse if they took away all the foreign dive masters. The Burmese are paid little and work long hours. For them it’s acceptable because they have no way of making money like this back in Burma.

My first time to Koh Tao was 1996 and there were dive shops and divers, bungalows, a few restaurants and snorkeling tours. Those that had a foothold back then foresaw the future and bought tracks of land where there wasn’t any development yet, but the is now. The pier led tourists to a walking trail where you’d walk your backpack down the way and pick a bungalow and dive team at the same time and that was it. There were very few cars and most goods were delivered to the island by big boats, transferred to longtail boats and dropped off at their bungalow/restaurant destinations individually. Today there are roads, taxis, trucks, two towns, stacks of tourists and piles of garbage everywhere because the tourists don’t take care for the island as they should. They seem to loose all levels of global responsibility when they arrive and start drinking and partying. By morning, every morning, the beaches are littered with beer bottles and plastic. Some local dive shops such as Rocktopus divers have taken it upon themselves to do a beach walk cleanup and invite all to join in because the tourists can’t be responsible for their own rubbish. Save Koh Tao? Even though a lot of the coral is returning, it’s too late. The island is environmentally stressed out and always in a perpetual water shortage the locals call a drought but it’s more related to tourist water use on the island. More swimming pools and large-scale resorts are still being built and taking reservations for the up coming years.

Koh Tao is a beautiful island with great snorkeling bays, picturesque viewpoints, and memorable sunsets. I stayed at Asia Divers Resort where their dive team has a swimming pool available for the beginning classes and getting divers comfortable with the underwater equipment keeping them alive.

The beach off of Sairee town is lined with restaurants and resorts and there are many more in town with variable themes. Tourists can find Mexican food, Italian, British, Thai, etc. Sunset is a good time to go to Maya Bar. Maya Bar is sponsoring a two-day electronic music festival with guest Dj’s, a VIP yacht tour and more music in a second location in a jungle campground. I’ll be attending the festival and will fill you in soon.

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Women Of Cho (shot)

Cale drove passed Victoria’s house and around the block before pulling in a parking spot down the road. He turned off the engine of his Volvo and sat watching the activity on the street in front of her house and in the rearview mirror, looking at each parked car for other people waiting and watching. A few minutes past before Cale got out of the car and walked to Victoria’s house. As Cale walked up the stairs to the front door he noticed an unopened newspaper in a plastic bag on the porch near the front door. He picked it up and checked the date through the bag. Cale pushed the doorbell and backed up a few steps and surveyed the street again looking into cars and trucks for any kind of odd movement. He watched the house windows across the street for a curtain flutter, a door ajar, anything. Cale played with Victoria’s key in his pocket. There had been no word from Victoria and the search through out San Francisco was on. Every patrol car had her picture on their screen as they made their rounds. He pushed the doorbell again and glanced up and down the street then pulled out the key and opened the front door. He walked in closing the door behind him. “Victoria? It’s Cale.” Cale walked through the living room towards the kitchen looking for her phone message machine. He hoped it was blinking with a message from her. On the kitchen counter sat her phone machine flashing away. Cale pushed the button and listened skipping down the messages from her family members, the precinct, to the end. There was no message from her. Cale grabbed a glass and filled it with tap water. Trying to figure what he would do if he was running from someone, where would he go if he left his building down the back stairs? The only place out back is Lombard Street, a few bars on Chestnut Street and the Palace of Fine Arts. Cale went to the door and as he opened it as Victoria burst in slapping the door against the wall.

            “Do you have a gun?” she exclaimed.

            “No.”

            “Get a knife out of the kitchen. Take your photo chip, here.” Victoria pulled the photo chip out of her pocket and tossed it to Cale.

            Cale caught it and turned into the kitchen and pulled a large knife out of the collection on the table. “What’s going on? Who’s after you?”

            “I don’t know! He shot at me at your place. He’s about 6’2”, blonde hair, blue eyes, fit, and he’s got an accent. But I don’t think he killed Paula Henderson. He looked around your apartment like he had never been there before and some of the things he said. I need a knife!”

            Cale grabbed another knife, “Got two.”

            “He’s coming. He’s been chasing me relentlessly since your flat. I can’t get away. He keeps showing up everywhere. I can’t shake him. I didn’t have my keys to get in my house till I saw your car. He’s coming. Call the precinct. We need back up, now!”

            Cale picked up the landline and the phone was dead. “He’s here. He cut the lines. Lock everything.” Cale pulled out his own phone and flipped it open and dialed his precinct number, “This is detective Dixon; I need back up immediately. I’m at Pacific and Divisadero Street at officer Victoria Shorts house. I’m going to leave my phone on and I want you to continue recording.”  Cale put the phone down on the counter and left it on and open. “Is everything locked?”

            “Always. I’m a single woman in one of the most violent states on the fucking planet. Give me a knife, get me two.”

            The door blew open off the hinges in pieces knocking Victoria to the ground. A gun barrel walked in the door followed by Victoria’s blond European hunter. He stepped on the door pinning Victoria waist down to the ground.

            Cale went silent with four knives in his hand and moved to the blind spot near the entryway of the kitchen and listened.

            “You are one fast lady. Now, give me the chip.”

            “I don’t have it anymore.”

            The man shot through the door between Victoria’s legs. “Where is it?”

            “I gave it to a cop.”

            “Dixon?”

            Victoria didn’t answer.

            The man shot through the door and caught Victoria’s calf.

            Victoria screamed.

            Cale turned the corner and hurled a knife at the man. The knife struck the man in the upper right shoulder.

The man stepped back and pulled the knife out and pointed his gun towards Cale.

Cale slammed the kitchen door and locked it. His only way out was a second story window and in his condition that was not an option. Cale had nowhere to go. He was trapped.

            The man started shooting at the doorknob and lock. Cale heard the door rock on the floor and on Victoria as she screamed again. He came to the kitchen door as a siren sounded outside, and then another. Victoria was swearing and moaning. A shot rang out and the man ran down the hall to a backdoor to Victoria’s little walled backyard. Cale heard the interior screen door as it slammed on its spring hinges and then slapped closed again softer. A patrol car pulled up with its siren quieting and then intermittent radios. Another siren grew louder as it closed in on their location.

            Cale opened what was left of the kitchen door as two police officers entered the front door with guns drawn. “Detective Dixon here. I’m unarmed. Officer down. Call an ambulance!” Cale came out with his hands first and his identification in one. “The guy has a knife wound on his upper right shoulder and went out the back door! It’s a fenced in yard. He’s armed. Blond, 6’2”, possibly European.”

            Recognizing Cale, one officer changed his gun aim down the hall and asked, “Are you hit?”

            “No. Victoria Short has been shot.”

            One officer scurried down the hallway and the other officer helped Cale get the door off of Victoria. Victoria was limp with blood pooling below her leg. Cale checked her pulse at her neck and looked for bullet wounds. One bullet had struck her leg and a rose red welt formed on the side of her head as it filled with blood.

            “I’ll wait with her for the ambulance. You go get that son-of-bitch!” yelled Cale.

            The officer grabbed his radio and requested an ambulance as he hurried down the hallway.

            Victoria moved her head and raised her hand to her head, “What the . . .?”

            “Don’t move, you’ve been shot in the leg and walloped on the head. An ambulance is on the way. Just stay still.” Cale grabbed a pillow off the couch and put it under her head and looked down at her blood soaked leg. “You’re going to be alright. They’ll be here in a few minutes, just stay still.” Cale grabbed another pillow and went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple dishtowels. When he returned he picked up Victoria’s shot leg a few inches and put the pillow underneath her foot.

Victoria hit Cale with a weak backhand, “What are you doing? That hurt.”

“I’m trying to stop the bleeding. Just try and relax.”

Victoria winced as Cale wrapped her leg snugly in dishtowels and held on with two hands, one palm on top and one palm underneath the wound. The bullet had gone clear through and into the floorboards.

More police arrived followed by an ambulance, an EMT unit and a fire truck. The vehicles blocked off the road and police diverted traffic at both ends from coming down the street.