Sunday in the slums

It's not that we live in the slums. We live in the slums adjacent. Right outside our 2nd floor deck and a matter of feet away is the slums. On Sunday the residence gamble and watch the races on a tv positioned on the sidewalk. They cheer on their favorite pony being broadcast from Malaysia or Phuket. This of course is accompanied by much drinking of Mykong whiskey and Singha beer. They get wasted!

They play cards with a lookout, usually a teenaged kid, stationed at each end of the tunnel-like soi to keep an eye out for the police. Not that they would be ticketed or arrested, no these police grab the cash sitting in the pot and run with it.

Yes, it's Sunday in the slums and the place is going crazy. Come on over!

Bangkok is more than "me ruv you rong time"

Most of the dumbass farangs (foreigners) who come to this city never know what Bangkok is truly about. They think getting drunk and having a Thai blowjob at Nana Plaza is a Bangkok experience. There is so much more to this city.

Today I was given a tour of the ruins of the old city "across the river" where life is different, where opportunities are for those that come from a background of an Indian and Chinese heritage.  Walking through blocks of land that have Chinese shrines of 80+ years, knowing that people lived off the land and river for generations makes the farang experience seem so shallow.

When the Burmese burned down the capital city of Ayutthaya in the late 1700s and the seat of power was moved to Bangkok, they first settled across the river where we were walking.  Today I saw walls of ancient palaces and government houses now lying in ruins, just waiting to be brought back to life and appreciated.  This is the city that makes Bangkok as famous for its history as for its sex industry.

Now please understand, I am not saying this is still not a fucked up country with its politics and separation of classes.  But get behind the scenes and off the streets for the real Bangkok to see what no one else sees and understands.

Let's play Guess Where the People are Flying?

Ok friends, yesterday it was time to play, Guess Where the People are Flying?  This is when you walk through DFW and you have to guess where the waiting people are heading.  You know that the blondes are all going to LA, the latin model types are all heading to Miami.  Now the toughy, when you have a crowd of overweight pasty white people sitting there it could be many places.  Could be Detroit or Minneapolis or even St. Louis.  The point is, it's getting harder to tell these days since America is getting fatter by the day. 

Need some humor?

Now that the protests are over and the city is back to as close to normal as it can be.  I thought it time for some humor.  NPR is something I miss from the US but here it is on SNL.

A Country Destroyed

Update since last night:  The 17 story Zen Department Store which includes a roof top restaurant and True Fitness has been burned and is now collapsing.  Central World Shopping area, 500 stores through 8 floors is now burned and destroyed.  The Channel 3 Television station is now burned and had staff on the roof trapped until a helicopter rescued them.  There were 32 fires around the city last night, mainly banks.  The Army is finding grenades and bombs still set on the roads and periodically we hear the explosion.  Reds are reported to be surfacing tonight and moving in small groups so we are staying in.

This is an updated look back at the last 4 days.

An oldie but a goodie

In April 2009 when the protestors ended a 3 day riot in the streets of Bangkok, I used the old line from Gone with the Wind, "It's over, it's really over".  Here we are a year + later and I want to use the same phrase.  Unfortunately, it is only the first step to being over.  Here is the sequence today:

6:30am     The Army came in, taking down the barricades
11am        The Army had made it to Rajadamri Road and was moving toward the stage
1:30pm     The Red Shirt leaders surrendered and walked to the police headquarters to turn themselves in
2:30pm     Bangkok erupts in fire as the Reds plan to burn the place down

So, thus far we have seen Chidlom, Ploenchit, Rama IV and now Sukhumvit all ignited.  They are now targeting media companies, Channel 3 is on fire.  A mob group just arrived to NBT, another television station and a group is heading to The Nation newspaper HQ.

Remember this is the Land of Smiles...my ass it is.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood... Mr. Rogers schadap!

As the conflict continues here in Bangkok, we are forced to stay indoors as much as possible, no food delivery, no grocery stores and the street lights are all turned out in the neighborhood at night.  I'm not trying to dramatize the situation by adding more photos but it is something I have not gone through before and find it quite fascinating.

If you have been to this neighborhood, you will recognize some of the landmarks in the background of the photos.  Credit to the Boston Globe, great shots.  I know the music makes it over the top.

Bangkok Violence Continues

About 13 months ago I wrote a small piece on Dan the Man from CNN.  How he was a bit on the emotional side of the reporting compared to the ABC (Australian).  Now we are faced with the same but worse situation.  Here is a piece that I think he has done pretty well in that the emotion is out and may be even a bit flat.

As you watch the grocery store in the piece that is Villa Market which is about 100 meters from us and our main shopping store.  The battles you see are about 200 meters from us and there are reports that there are bullets strikes in the buildings at the end of our driveway.  Anyway, we are safe and have food and of course rum for a week should the shit really hit the fan.

Who day shootin at?

Today's little nugget of Red Shirt vs the Thai government comes from the roof top pool of our building.  Earlier this morning we heard a helicopter hovering, not sure if it was army or news.  Turns out it was army.  One lonely army helicopter.  Who was in it, not sure.

What we did see and hear were bottle rockets being launched into the sky.  Seriously, good old fashioned New Year type fireworks being launched from bamboo tubes, hoping that they would hit the helicopter which was hovering a good 400 meters above us.  What do the reds think they will accomplish by shooting bottle rockets in the sky?  Give me a break.

Is Thailand moving to civil war? I sure hope not!

Here is a video which is not typical CNN quality, it's better.  CNN will show anything of top drama quality just to sell some more ad time.  This time I think they got it right.  Must be that Dan "the man" Rivers is down under in New Zealand or elsewhere and not covering this event.

Not to send panic to anyone or be dramatic like CNN but this is my neighborhood of which I live and work.