Songkraan 2009 :) Or :(

[orang37]

Reading that the ASEAN summit has been cancelled, country leaders evacuated by helicopter, state of emergency declared for Pattaya and Chonburi, hotel broken into, Thai media reporting alleged deaths by gunfire of one or more persons, reporting alleged presence of weapons including molotov cocktails and sling-shots with steel-bolts for ammunition ... but not, as yet, reporting allegations of actual use of those weapons ...

Brings a sadness to this Farang heart, a sense of "oh no, not again."

I was at the bus station here in Chiang Mai yesterday, and it was in that paradoxical state of chaotc-but-orderly fractal crowded confusion with smiles-all-round that, imho, Thais can achieve at their best. There was a celebration in progress of the 76th. anniversary of something (bus transportation, a bus company ?) with dancers, extra-loud luk-theung. What used to be a main entrance to the bus-loading area has been sealed off now, new seats in place outside : as so often : everything I "expected" changed

But I do believe I felt that Songkraan energy in the air among the hundreds of people in transit there. What looked like extra staff-employees in green shirts were everywhere.

I am tempted to remember a time in America, when what was "democracy" was still a very hot topic (and the struggle to make one or another "definition" of democracy prevail frequently led to civil violence) : the radical pamphleteer and civil libertarian Thomas Paine wrote :

"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from his government."

Good luck, Thailand; I love you, even though I don't understand you, and have given up the illusion that I can ever understand you. May your future, as you choose to define it, be peaceful. It is your country, I am your guest.

Note to myself : wear green, white, or tan shirts.

Happy Songkraan 2009 !

with respect, ~o:37; via his Farang servant

Edited April 11, 2009 by orang37

[Ulysses G.]

Another excellent post!