What Is Happening Now In The City?

[Tonycheston]

Hi, being someone who is living in Bangkok and doesn't speak the lingo. I would like to know what is happening. Is the sky-train still running? Is it safe to go into the city? What areas should be avoided? Any information to help us keep safe and find out what is actually happening.

The "news" forum is just getting full of arguments about what is right and wrong, who should kill who, what the police and army should do. This is completely irrelevant to our safety. We need to know facts, we need to know what we can and cannot do. Please use this "topic" to give information to help others and NOT use for personal aggro or meaningless thoughts. It is difficult enough to search through other topics to find USEFUL information. I wanted to so to Samut Prakarn today to watch the festival, does anyone have information if it is still on?

[BigSnake]

:crazy:ness

[yumidesign]

Hi, being someone who is living in Bangkok and doesn't speak the lingo. I would like to know what is happening. Is the sky-train still running? Is it safe to go into the city? What areas should be avoided? Any information to help us keep safe and find out what is actually happening.

The "news" forum is just getting full of arguments about what is right and wrong, who should kill who, what the police and army should do. This is completely irrelevant to our safety. We need to know facts, we need to know what we can and cannot do. Please use this "topic" to give information to help others and NOT use for personal aggro or meaningless thoughts. It is difficult enough to search through other topics to find USEFUL information. I wanted to so to Samut Prakarn today to watch the festival, does anyone have information if it is still on?

Welome. Thai Visa is a forum of free discussion not a news outlet

go to....... www.nationmultimedia.com/index.php

or Channel News Asia from singapore which generally has good information on news about Thailand with a strong bias for bad new about the country. Or learn the local language then you can watch the local Thai news on channel 3

Songkran celebrations in Bangkok have been cancelled

[Tonycheston]

Welome. Thai Visa is a forum of free discussion not a news outlet

go to....... www.nationmultimedia.com/index.php

or Channel News Asia from singapore which generally has good information on news about Thailand with a strong bias for bad new about the country. Or learn the local language then you can watch the local Thai news on channel 3

Songkran celebrations in Bangkok have been cancelled

Thanks. I am aware of what the forums are. Your remarks about learning the language are correct but that doesn't help people who haven't been here long and are at the beginning of their study. The forums have many topics but they all come down to the same, people using them for their own opinions and not keeping to the subject. If someone asks "well, what do you think?" then ok but News forums should be kept as NEWS and not personal thoughts. Have you tried to find news in the news forum today? IMO the forums do a good job on the whole, they are informative, and that is the idea. Surely it is the objective of such forums to inform people of important things and up-to-date information from people either here, seeing things first hand, or in the know. Most foreign news channels are hours behind in what they report. A forum is the best place to get "NOW" information.

[sanook2me]

Welome. Thai Visa is a forum of free discussion not a news outlet

go to....... www.nationmultimedia.com/index.php

or Channel News Asia from singapore which generally has good information on news about Thailand with a strong bias for bad new about the country. Or learn the local language then you can watch the local Thai news on channel 3

Songkran celebrations in Bangkok have been cancelled

Thanks. I am aware of what the forums are. Your remarks about learning the language are correct but that doesn't help people who haven't been here long and are at the beginning of their study. The forums have many topics but they all come down to the same, people using them for their own opinions and not keeping to the subject. If someone asks "well, what do you think?" then ok but News forums should be kept as NEWS and not personal thoughts. Have you tried to find news in the news forum today? IMO the forums do a good job on the whole, they are informative, and that is the idea. Surely it is the objective of such forums to inform people of important things and up-to-date information from people either here, seeing things first hand, or in the know. Most foreign news channels are hours behind in what they report. A forum is the best place to get "NOW" information.

Dude chill out... you're well out of way of the rabble rousing natives...

Go to your local moma and papa store and get a few brown cold ones and relax....

I'm in sunny Bangkok and everything is normal - come on over to Central Pinklao - what state of emergency?

[7by7]

We were planning on going to KSR today.

Some news says celebrations there have been cancelled, others say not yet.

Anyone know for sure?

[7by7]

To answer my own question, sort of.

Thai PBS is saying KSR is not closed, but the wife's sister has just arrived and says that a friend of hers tried to go but was turned back by the police!

Maybe we'll go to Silom instead.

[phaethon]

KSR is quite close to the Royal Palace which is heavily protected by the army - perhaps she tried approaching from the 'wrong' direction. Anyway it's a bit too close to the trouble spots to be worth it IMO.

I took the BTS at 10am to National Stadium and walked back to Paragon. Both Discovery and Paragon are firmly closed and barricaded (although the coffee shop at the bottom of Discovery (Pain something?) was open. MBK open, not crammed but plenty of folks shopping.

12p, I headed for Victory Monument. As I got off there was a commotion on the walkway at the monument end and people fleeing towards the station from black smoke on the opposite side of the square. BTS cooperatively closed the shutters so I had to descend to street level to get to the walkway that was occupied by the army for the most part. They put the tyre fire out and eventually began to allow limited amounts of traffic through.

BTS Victory monument and Phaya Thai were still closed at 2pm. The taxi ride back home was uneventful apart from regular dousings by revellers at the roadside.

[1Lucky]

Hi, being someone who is living in Bangkok and doesn't speak the lingo. I would like to know what is happening. Is the sky-train still running? Is it safe to go into the city? What areas should be avoided? Any information to help us keep safe and find out what is actually happening.

The "news" forum is just getting full of arguments about what is right and wrong, who should kill who, what the police and army should do. This is completely irrelevant to our safety. We need to know facts, we need to know what we can and cannot do. Please use this "topic" to give information to help others and NOT use for personal aggro or meaningless thoughts. It is difficult enough to search through other topics to find USEFUL information. I wanted to so to Samut Prakarn today to watch the festival, does anyone have information if it is still on?

Welome. Thai Visa is a forum of free discussion not a news outlet

go to....... www.nationmultimedia.com/index.php

or Channel News Asia from singapore which generally has good information on news about Thailand with a strong bias for bad new about the country. Or learn the local language then you can watch the local Thai news on channel 3

Songkran celebrations in Bangkok have been cancelled

I thought the original posting was an excellent one and would have thought it would have been something the moderators themselves would have set up. Having seen the news headlines this morning on the Nation and the BBC I too logged into Thaivisa to find out on the ground information about where things were happening, what was safe, etc. Not news headlines but practical information. I too was disappointed by the nature of the threads I found - a few helpful news clippings, some worthwhile views and analysis; but largely overwhelmed by drivel (personal and vacuous arguments between posters and often facile comments). This is a forum for (relatively) free discussion which is fine. That doesn't mean other threads cannot seek to collect helpful and useful information especially at times of some danger. Of course threads on the visa section collate and record important visa information and I would suggest practical information concerning the current situation is no less important.

So apologies for the pretty embarrassing poster which suggested that the OP should read the news media and learn Thai. Clearly a non-Thai speaker is not going to be able to learn Thai in a day or two (and there are many, many foreigners living in Thailand who speak insufficient Thai to learn a great deal from a Thai news channel) and in any event the news media go for the big stories, not the detailed on the ground practical information that is being sought here.

So onto the unfortunately scant substantive information I can provide.

Around the Asok/Phom Phrong area this morning I experienced no difficulties - Emporium and many of the surrounding shops were open as normal and the Skytrain was operating. The roads were relatively quiet.

The reason this information is scant was because one of the few sources of information I could find was the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office website which advised Bangkok residents as far as possible to remain in their homes. This did strike me as a little bit too broad brush and perhaps a little over-cautious (though understandably so) but I didn't want to venture particularly far to find out how true it was and I was unable to find the practical information being sought by the OP by looking at Thaivisa, the nation, etc.

[Sabum]

Hi, being someone who is living in Bangkok and doesn't speak the lingo. I would like to know what is happening. Is the sky-train still running? Is it safe to go into the city? What areas should be avoided? Any information to help us keep safe and find out what is actually happening.

The "news" forum is just getting full of arguments about what is right and wrong, who should kill who, what the police and army should do. This is completely irrelevant to our safety. We need to know facts, we need to know what we can and cannot do. Please use this "topic" to give information to help others and NOT use for personal aggro or meaningless thoughts. It is difficult enough to search through other topics to find USEFUL information. I wanted to so to Samut Prakarn today to watch the festival, does anyone have information if it is still on?

Welome. Thai Visa is a forum of free discussion not a news outlet

go to....... www.nationmultimedia.com/index.php

or Channel News Asia from singapore which generally has good information on news about Thailand with a strong bias for bad new about the country. Or learn the local language then you can watch the local Thai news on channel 3

Songkran celebrations in Bangkok have been cancelled

Next time don't bother typing a response.

[desi]

We need to know facts, we need to know what we can and cannot do.

The google earth map of what areas to avoid: Red Shirt Danger Zones - April 2009

And while it states April 8-10, people were passing it around via twitter as of 17 hours ago.

There is another one all in Thai but I have not been able to locate it again.

[desi]

And if you want updates in realtime, then go to twitter and do a search for #redshirt.

Thai speakers are generously translating Thai tv for the English twitterers.

[p_brownstone]

This is a "News Only" Thread on this Board:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Bangkok-Cris...75&start=75

The Mods seem to be doing a good job keeping out all the rather repetative political coments.

Also:

http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/

Patrick

[palm]

Hi, being someone who is living in Bangkok and doesn't speak the lingo. I would like to know what is happening. Is the sky-train still running? Is it safe to go into the city? What areas should be avoided? Any information to help us keep safe and find out what is actually happening.

The "news" forum is just getting full of arguments about what is right and wrong, who should kill who, what the police and army should do. This is completely irrelevant to our safety. We need to know facts, we need to know what we can and cannot do. Please use this "topic" to give information to help others and NOT use for personal aggro or meaningless thoughts. It is difficult enough to search through other topics to find USEFUL information. I wanted to so to Samut Prakarn today to watch the festival, does anyone have information if it is still on?

I've been around a lot of Bangkok in the last 3 days (Sat-Mon), and I have not seen any real trouble at all!

main Sukhumvit Road as normal

Sukhumvit soi 38 as normal

Sukhumvit Thonglor as normal

On Nut as normal

Nonthaburi as normal

Rama 9 as normal

Surawong Road as normal

Sky train open as normal

Taxis taking passengers as normal

The Highways are open as normal (though the exit to Victory Monument was closed off)

I drove along On Nut on Monday, and all the Thais were out for the water festival having fun. Lots of cars and motorbikes everywhere.

Anyone would think the whole city is up in flames from the dumb foreign media reports, whereas its limited to a few areas such as Government House and Din Daeng / Victor Monument.

My Thai friends are bemused by it all, and having grown up in a city which had a few real riots in its time, so am I.

Edited April 14, 2009 by palm

[george]

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[khun_j]

silom was completely "normal" songkran yesterday evening as well. as well normal taxi service...

[Bahookie]

Seemingly normal

[Old Man River]

Hi, being someone who is living in Bangkok and doesn't speak the lingo. I would like to know what is happening. Is the sky-train still running? Is it safe to go into the city? What areas should be avoided? Any information to help us keep safe and find out what is actually happening.

The "news" forum is just getting full of arguments about what is right and wrong, who should kill who, what the police and army should do. This is completely irrelevant to our safety. We need to know facts, we need to know what we can and cannot do. Please use this "topic" to give information to help others and NOT use for personal aggro or meaningless thoughts. It is difficult enough to search through other topics to find USEFUL information. I wanted to so to Samut Prakarn today to watch the festival, does anyone have information if it is still on?

Welome. Thai Visa is a forum of free discussion not a news outlet

go to....... www.nationmultimedia.com/index.php

or Channel News Asia from singapore which generally has good information on news about Thailand with a strong bias for bad new about the country. Or learn the local language then you can watch the local Thai news on channel 3

Songkran celebrations in Bangkok have been cancelled

I thought the original posting was an excellent one and would have thought it would have been something the moderators themselves would have set up. Having seen the news headlines this morning on the Nation and the BBC I too logged into Thaivisa to find out on the ground information about where things were happening, what was safe, etc. Not news headlines but practical information. I too was disappointed by the nature of the threads I found - a few helpful news clippings, some worthwhile views and analysis; but largely overwhelmed by drivel (personal and vacuous arguments between posters and often facile comments). This is a forum for (relatively) free discussion which is fine. That doesn't mean other threads cannot seek to collect helpful and useful information especially at times of some danger. Of course threads on the visa section collate and record important visa information and I would suggest practical information concerning the current situation is no less important.

So apologies for the pretty embarrassing poster which suggested that the OP should read the news media and learn Thai. Clearly a non-Thai speaker is not going to be able to learn Thai in a day or two (and there are many, many foreigners living in Thailand who speak insufficient Thai to learn a great deal from a Thai news channel) and in any event the news media go for the big stories, not the detailed on the ground practical information that is being sought here.

So onto the unfortunately scant substantive information I can provide.

Around the Asok/Phom Phrong area this morning I experienced no difficulties - Emporium and many of the surrounding shops were open as normal and the Skytrain was operating. The roads were relatively quiet.

The reason this information is scant was because one of the few sources of information I could find was the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office website which advised Bangkok residents as far as possible to remain in their homes. This did strike me as a little bit too broad brush and perhaps a little over-cautious (though understandably so) but I didn't want to venture particularly far to find out how true it was and I was unable to find the practical information being sought by the OP by looking at Thaivisa, the nation, etc.

As of this morning, the places listed to avoid are:

Areas where there heavy presence of red-shirt protesters and to be avoided are:

** NOTE: Most of the protesters have retreated to areas around Government House but caution is advised at these locations where clashes took place during April 12-13. ***

1. The entire Rattanakosin island and Ratchadamnern Road

2. Rama 6 Road

3. Victory monument (traffic reopened at April 13, 14.35)

4. Suthisarn intersection near Mitr Maitree Soi

5. Yomaraj expressway exit and intersection

This information can be found on the following website: www.tannetwork.tv