"Seeing Red."

While I have written several entries of late, it seems I continue to get further behind, and still have a ton of catch up work to do, so let’s get started. From Cambodia, I hopped on a bus with my German friend I had been traveling with and headed in to Thailand. We made it in to Bangkok in the evening and took a cab over to a hostel some guy we met in Siem Reap recommended to us over and over. In fact, that same guy was at the hostel in Bangkok when we arrived, as he left Cambodia a day or two before we did. He kept telling us how great and wonderful the place was, so after walking around for a while and grabbing dinner, a few of us took a cab out there. It was far from where we were, and we had some difficulty finding the place, and when we did, we weren’t all too happy that we had found it. Granted, the place was the cheapest thing in the city, the people were nice, but what a dump and I have stayed in dumps. We may have well lain on a dirty yoga mat out in some street alley. Yes, it was just as dirty, and just as noisy. The place was horribly filthy. People were having sex behind the bar in the lounge. We were offered cocaine by one of the employees as he was snorting, and dirt and garbage were everywhere. The place did not look like it had even be swept in months, and the mattresses were dirty, disgusting, beat up and tattered pieces of cloth strung around thin padding thrown on to the stained and dusty floor. We left the next morning and found a place near Khoa San Road, the main backpacker road. It was much cleaner, and a much better location. In Bangkok, mostly I just walked around or shopped or visited temples. There were protests and riots going on at that time in parts of the city, with many deaths, so most of downtown was closed off and shut down. The Khoa San area was fine though, just with fewer tourists than normal, as many travelers feared the political unrests and riots that had been coursing through the city for the past month or two. I really liked Bangkok, and the fewer tourists due to the riots and protests made the city feel calmer and more laid back. I would like to have seen some of the sites in the closed off areas, but I still enjoyed myself.

I did have to go downtown to drop off my passport at the Myanmar embassy to get my visa for that country. It was eerily quiet for such a huge city, and I was told to be very careful, as all the embassies were very near the main protests areas where all fights between the government and civilians had occurred. Two days later I had to go back to pick up my passport and a lot of rioting had happened that day. Everything was closed, and I feared the embassy would be also, but I made it just in time, as the guy at the counter told me they were closing then because of the danger in the area, and that I should be very, very careful, because it was not safe that day. I noticed several large plumes of smoke from what looked like skyscrapers on fire, and I had the option of heading away from the smoke and fires back toward the river ferry and safety, or I could take off toward the smoke and in to uncertainly. Naturally, I chose the latter, and darted off toward the smoke as fast as I could.

The whole city was deserted, not a single car or person on the roads, and every business was closed. There were barricades and large circular strips of barbwire thrown across the roads and sidewalks. I made it through those obstacles and kept on course. Phone booths were all tipped over, street lamps all broken, shattered glass everywhere, and remnants of homemade fire bombs. I walked through areas where it was only myself and very heavily armed soldiers. The city looked like it had been closed for weeks without allowing garbage trucks in, and garbage and the stench of garbage were both equally littered across acres of the city.

I made it to Lumphini Park, the epicenter of the protests and clashes. Apparently the leaders of the Red Shirt protestors had surrendered only hours before and rioters dispersed and escaped the onslaught of police and military that tore through the area. Soldiers were tearing down the barricades built of tires and sticks thrown together by the Red Shirts. Tanks, military trucks, soldiers, the press, and me were the only things left in the city that looked like a war zone with smoke billowing out of several buildings, a strong additional reminder of the chaos that took place so shortly before. I am glad I walked toward the uncertainty. Adventure pays off.

With all that had happened that day, and fearing backlashes, the Thai government issued a strict and early curfew, and even back on Khoa San, everything was closing as everyone frighteningly rushed to their homes. Me, I casually watched and then hopped on a bus making my way down to the southern islands.