Report From The Battlefield In Bangkok

[OldAsiaHand]

Wednesday, 6:00 pm

I just got back from finding out what is actually going on in the streets here in Bangkok today. The quick answer is.....

not a heck of a lot.

I pretty much covered the city from Ekamai all the way out Sathorn to the river and then up to the government area around Chitlada Palace. Traffic was blessedly lighter than usual, roughly what one might expect on a Sunday afternoon, but the city was anything but deserted.

Other than the odd sight of two army trucks with perhaps thirty troops in full battle dress parked on Soi Thonglor at the entry to soi 21, where there is a small collection of presumably ultra hip clubs patronized solely by young Thais, there wasn't the slightest sign of any military presence anywhere. Nothing in Sukhumvit; nothing in Sathorn; nothing in Silom. The Emporium and Siam Paragon were both open and operating normally, as were most smaller stores and street vendors. None of the embassies on Wireless or Sathorn showed any visible signs of unusual security.

Among the government offices in the old part of the city, the story was a little different. There are a few troops here and there at major intersections, mostly standing in two's and three's, looking bored and scratching their bums. Occasionally a humvee or APC could be seen parked at the curb and I saw three police traffic control boxes that were being operated by the military.

But here is the most interesting thing I saw. Chitlada Palace is quite and unprotected other than for the usual ceremonial guards. Tourists are posing for pictures in front of the gates and joggers are circling the walk out beyond the moat. The Ministry of Defense complex has only the usual handful of sleepy guards posted in front. None of the other government buildings show any sign of military activity at all.

By contrast to all of this, General Prem's house near the palace is sealed off behind a two block perimeter by a dozen or more tanks, heavily armed troops, several APC's, and the occasional .50 caliber set up in the streets. No other military activity going on out there compares even remotely to the concentration of force being used to protect General Prem.

Now whatever could that mean?

Edited September 20, 2006 by OldAsiaHand

[Thaising]

What a nice reconnaissance report.

[OldAsiaHand]

Thank you, sir. My pleasure.

[crockett]

Great report Old AsiaHand. This reflects exactly what I experienced today.

I'm starting to get sick about all this gossiping and speculating posts from people who

are not even here.

Finally someone who is down to earth.

cheers,

crockett

[samran]

I'm guessing if OAH had a motto in life, it would be "just the facts ma'am"

[Spit the Dog]

From what I saw today around the Central Ladprao area, it felt like New Year or a long holiday weekend. The traffic was lighter than normal for Wednesday and there were still the usual Thai restaurants and food vendors open looking for business.

The only military I saw, was an army truck parked at the intersection between Ladprao and Pahonyothin with a few soldiers waving by passing cars while the rest of them were sat on there arse bored shitless. Also, usually when passing by Thai Airways headquaters they have 3 soldiers on patrol checking incoming vehicles. Today there were 4.

[OldAsiaHand]

I'm guessing if OAH had a motto in life, it would be "just the facts ma'am"

Heck, I like the sound of that. As a motto, however, I'd be more than willing to share it with a good number of our fellow posters here. You know who you are.......

[Boo]

My husbands brother also gave us a similar report today. His general message was nothing major to worry about & thailand has been through it much worse in the past.

[kat]

I call it the party coup. Everyone's in good spirits, and we got a bit of a holiday as well. People were outside taking smiling snapshots in front of manned tanks.

I hope this good feeling lasts well through the weekend as well, or at least until the banks open.

[jdinasia]

absolutely NOTHING out of the unusual to report from Phuket

[kayo]

well, just the facts: Front page news in Guatemala, both the broadsheet and the main tabloid. (details on page 48)

Pics of tanks and thai military in their camo`s

[udon]

OldAsiaHand, you should send your report to Reuters & the Beeb.

The Beeb were using words like "turmoil in BKK."

I'd expect Fox & CNN to use words like that........

[penguin]

Yesterday wandering around Bangkok, 5 soldiers at the Asoke intersection, a couple of army jeeps parked outside MBK (shopping maybe?), about 20 soldiers at Morchit skytrain station but most were sleeping in the back of an army truck, at least a couple of soldiers at every other skytrain station l passed. Also noticed soldiers on at least 20 pedestrian bridges and about 80 army jeeps with l don't know how many soldiers parked at the Army Club.

Funniest thing l saw all day was tourists lining up to have their photo taken with the 4 soldiers standing guard out front of the Erawan shrine.

[Douggie Style]

(Thanks to the posters feeding in the great on the ground info)

I hope this isnt taken the wrong way, love this forum...

But with family and business in Thailand need to find a source that cuts through the chaff to get to the wheat.

I am looking at a few sources including Google news, the usual forums but finding it takes a long time to go through the incredible volume.

Has anyone found any good concise sources (including in this forum is there a better or best thread)?

thanks in advance

Edited September 21, 2006 by Douggie Style

[sabaijai]

Wednesday, 6:00 pm

I just got back from finding out what is actually going on in the streets here in Bangkok today. The quick answer is.....

not a heck of a lot.

I pretty much covered the city from Ekamai all the way out Sathorn to the river and then up to the government area around Chitlada Palace. Traffic was blessedly lighter than usual, roughly what one might expect on a Sunday afternoon, but the city was anything but deserted.

Other than the odd sight of two army trucks with perhaps thirty troops in full battle dress parked on Soi Thonglor at the entry to soi 21, where there is a small collection of presumably ultra hip clubs patronized solely by young Thais, there wasn't the slightest sign of any military presence anywhere. Nothing in Sukhumvit; nothing in Sathorn; nothing in Silom. The Emporium and Siam Paragon were both open and operating normally, as were most smaller stores and street vendors. None of the embassies on Wireless or Sathorn showed any visible signs of unusual security.

Among the government offices in the old part of the city, the story was a little different. There are a few troops here and there at major intersections, mostly standing in two's and three's, looking bored and scratching their bums. Occasionally a humvee or APC could be seen parked at the curb and I saw three police traffic control boxes that were being operated by the military.

But here is the most interesting thing I saw. Chitlada Palace is quite and unprotected other than for the usual ceremonial guards. Tourists are posing for pictures in front of the gates and joggers are circling the walk out beyond the moat. The Ministry of Defense complex has only the usual handful of sleepy guards posted in front. None of the other government buildings show any sign of military activity at all.

By contrast to all of this, General Prem's house near the palace is sealed off behind a two block perimeter by a dozen or more tanks, heavily armed troops, several APC's, and the occasional .50 caliber set up in the streets. No other military activity going on out there compares even remotely to the concentration of force being used to protect General Prem.

Now whatever could that mean?

Prem would be the number-one target of the army's Thaksin faction.