Khun Somchai was, as expected, kicked out, not really because he did anything wrong but because some of the people in his party as well as the other parties in the government did. They bought votes at the last elections.
So on Monday we'll have the election of the new PM by the MPs from parliement and unfortunately it is quite difficult for a majority to agree about whom to elect so far, so every vote will count and a lot of deals are made in the background.
But the leader of the Democrat party, Khun Abhisit, is quite convinced it is now his turn to be PM, not because the population wants him to be PM, or he would have been elected in the first place but because he is the only one left after most of the ones who were elected were disqualified. This is democracy, Thailand style.
The PAD people are making the airport their new home, bringing blankets for sleeping, blocking the highway with a firetruck and trolleys, in short preparing themselves to stay there for as long as they can.
So what should you do if you are a foreigner in Bangkok and wants to leave Bangkok?
There are a few options available:
- You can try to get a flight at Utapao airport, the military airport next to Pattaya (150 kms south of Bangkok), they said some Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific and Malaysian airlines flights will be landing there. The few seats available will sure be in high demand, so you'll need to be patient if you choose that solution
- Take a bus to Phuket, will take you the night to reach there but the airport in Phuket is fully operational and you should be able to get a flight quite easily to Singapore, if not to many other destinations
- Take a bus to Chiang Mai where the airport is also operational, it is a bit closer than Phuket but less flight available.
What would I do if I needed to leave Thailand urgently? I would go to Phuket.
As for when will the airport in Bangkok re-open? This is anybody guess but I would not count on that solution for at least a few more days, at best...
The airport is still closed and more and more people are now stuck in Thailand, some without much money left by the way.
The situation is getting really out of control and there are more and more calls for the army to intervene.
To intervene for removing the PAD people from the airport and re-open it. But well, the army won't do that, if they intervene, it will be to remove Somchai's governement and take the control of the country once again.
And this is exactly what the rumor in Bangkok is this afternoon, there will be a Coup d'Etat this evening.
I came back to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday evening and could appreciate the "Welcome to Thailand" PAD style...
I went for a day trip to Vietnam yesterday and came back in the evening, 10.20, Thai Airways flight from Ho Chi Minh City As usual, I rushed through the customs (no queue, took less than 5 minutes) and went out through the gate 7 in order to wait for the car supposed to come to pick me up. First impression, why is there so much noise outside, music, hands clapping, shouting, impossible to hear what the driver was trying to tell me, just two words, "wait, traffic".
I hanged up the phone but is that guy out of his mind? What traffic is he talking about? I did not even ONE car for the 5 minutes I've been waiting. But why is nobody waiting, only me, is it THAT late?
I call my Thai colleague who took his car from the parking lot and is on his way back already. "You'd better take a taxi, the entrance of the airport is closed, only a few cars going through, kms of traffic jam, you're going to wait for ages" "Who is closing the road?" "The PAD people and do not stand outside, you never know..."
OK, he's sure right, I will take a taxi. I move to the gate 3 where the taxis are supposed to be, I mean where the taxis have been for the last few months. No taxi. Shit. "You've got to go the ground floor, the taxis are there" I'm told (I was on the first level , Arrival level and the PAD people were on the second level, Departure Hall). Went to ground floor where of course, it was chaos, cars, buses, and plenty of people fighting for a few taxis that managed to come through the blockade.
Not for me, thank you, I'll wait for my car to come through, be zen...
11.30, my car came through, I jump inside and off I go. Leaving the airport, I can appreciate how lucky I am seeing kms of cars stopped on the lanes going to the airport, and people walking in between the cars, with their suitcase, trying to reach the airport in order to go back home, for thanksgiving as far as Americans are concerned. Not knowing at that time, they would still be here today, waiting.
And I'm back home, trying to stay zen about the whole mess and not writing what I really think about the PAD...
As I mentionned before, the funerals of the sister of HM the King of Thailand were quite spectacular, judge by yourself. With some added political comments from CNN...
ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Khunying Pojaman had their UK visa cancelled and have divorced shortly after
I'm not too sure what is the relation in between these 2 events actually. A few days back, UK decided that they had enough of Thaksin and canceled his visa as well as the one of his wife Pojaman. But their children can stay there, in the nice house they own in London. Thaksin announced afterward that he will now travel most of the time and will fight for his return to Thailand. He will also probably choose as a base one of the Arab Emirates since they do not have an extradition treaty with Thailand.
And it was announced today that he also divorced because his wife did not really agree with him staying into politics. My guess would be that by divorcing, she could be allowed to stay in UK where he daughter is studying, we'll know soon enough I guess.
But the news today and what is on all TV channels in Thailand is the Royal Funeral of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana, the sister of HM the King of Thailand. It took 10 months to prepare it (she passed away in January), so we were expecting something quite elaborate and it indeed is. I'll post some youtube clips later.
I posted last week in the French version of the Thai news the youtube clip showing the damage teargas canisters could make when exploding and wondering how it was possible.
You can see people with a leg missing and 2 people were actually killed.
In fact, there was an explanation, the Thai police used old teargas bombs they bought 10 years ago in China and these Chinese bombs are indeed bombs that explode while releasing teargas, hence the extensive damage...
Las week Cambodia threatened to go to war with Thailand if they did not remove their troops from the Preah Vihear area and there was indeed some exchange of fire at the border with a few soldiers killed and it seems 10 Thai soldiers taken prisonners by the Cambodian army. The Thai army sent reinforcements, i.e. more soldiers to the area and the Cambodian government said "Now, it is ok, the Thai army withdrew, we won't go to war with them..."
Thaksin was convicted of abuse of power and sentenced to 2 years in jail, which he does not care much since he is in London. His wife on the other hand was cleared of all charges and the warrant for her arrest cancelled. And the Prime Minister Khun Somchai said the court is wrong, my brother-in -law did not do anything wrong.
And it seems the Bank of Thailand is intervening heavily in the markets to avoid a sinking of the Thai baht, which will anyway happen eventually. So why are they wasting their time and money?
The PPP is the People Power Party, an offspring of the TRT (Thai Rak Thai) of former Prime Minister Thaksin, no in exile in UK. When the party was dissolved and Thaksin went into exile, they created a new party called the PPP. And when the army stepped down after about one year in power, this party won the elections. Khun Samak was appointed PM and here comes the PAD...
The PAD is the People Alliance for Democracy, a very loose group of people, mainly upper middle class Bangkok who basically think elections are bad for Thailand since the electorate is not educated enough by their standards to be able to rightly choose the MPs. And they always elect the "wrong" ones, by PAD standards, that is. And it includes Thaksin and the TRT and now the PPP. They want to have 75% of the MPs not elected but nominated (by whom I'm not sure) and they call themselves People Alliance for Democracy, I guess they've got the English translation wrong... And they've been protesting for months for the removal of the PPP from power and are still occupying government house.
Now comes the UDD, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship that is on a 3 days rally in Bangkok to protest against the PAD and the reason they do that is in the name they chose for their party. They were the ones that clashed with the PAD protesters a few weeks back, leaving 1 people dead and 40 injured. They expect about 10,000 people joining and say it will be peaceful, they won't go to confront the PAD protesters.
Thailand is the place in South East Asia for cheap clothes, even if not as cheap as it used to be, the competition from China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia is heating up...
But well, it still remains pretty cheap by my European standards and a lot of choices, as far as summer clothes are concerned, that is. Governor Palin would have a hard time finding clothes that suit Alaska climate here. But anyway, I do not really think she is into cheap clothes...
So, here are a few pictures I took this morning in a Tesco Lotus in Bangkok. Probably not the cheapest place, I know of a few ones that are cheaper, but how much cheaper can it be? We're talking of most clothese going from 69 baht to 299 baht, i.e. with an exchange rate of about 34 baht/US$, 2 US$ to 8 US$.
And the quality is well, worth the price...
A few pictures taken today in a Tesco Lotus in Bangkok.
I actually want to show that there is no revolution in Thailand. The shops still have everything available and are still packed with customers. Pictures have been taken with the phone, so do not expect too much quality...
Let's start with the rice. You'll see on the top right side, the section where alcohol bottles are. With the Carrefour staff having a different uniform there...
