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Red Shirt Supporter
Laborers, like this man who worked at a luxury carpet manufacturer, displayed their party affiliation by hanging a red flag at their work site. It has been said that people have "flash cube" memories. Certain memorable moments leave an indelible mark that is as crystal clear as a photograph. For me and my trip to Thailand, that will be the day we left a burning Bangkok behind us and relocated to Pattaya.
Here is the back story: We arrived in Thailand shortly after the Red Shirts had reached a tentative agreement with Thailand's Prime Minister regarding holding new elections. And for the first few days in country, it seemed as though the worst had passed. On the morning commute to the UNIAP meeting, our train passed over the protest site. Instead of seeing thousands of people standing and actively protesting--like we saw in media coverage of the previous few weeks--we saw empty barricaded roads and a relatively small cluster (maybe in the hundreds) of people sitting on blankets in the road protected from the hot afternoon sun by some canopy-like structures.
We moved freely throughout Bangkok without any real notice of Red Shirt activity. Granted, we saw some taxi drivers displaying their red flags and also saw Thai soldiers sitting around and waiting near highway underpasses. But we felt completely safe. At this
The Calm Before the Storm
Prior to the eruption of fires, soldiers seemed to be sitting around and waiting. Many of them simply texted or talked on their cell phones. point in the trip, it wasn't much more than a traffic jam. But then on our fourth day in Bangkok, we returned to the hotel to learn the news that the Red Shirt leader had been shot by a sniper. We knew then that what we had been experiencing was the calm before the storm.
By the next afternoon, several plumes of black smoke dotted the skyline as Red Shirt protesters burned their bamboo and tire barricades. The fires started spreading, the smoke was getting blacker, and the Thai soldiers were no longer sitting around texting. They were camped out at check points that caused us to reroute around the city.
We quickly wrapped up the educational portion of our time in Bangkok and put our Plan B into action. We packed our bags, called in our back-up hotel reservation, and hired a bus driver to transport us down to Pattaya. By the next morning we were on our way out of the city to a safe locale.
After settling into our rooms, Nick and I joined some of the guys to go out for a bite to eat. We ended up in a German bar/restaurant drinking
Fires Burning
Fires like this one dotted the skyline. The clouds of smoke got thicker and more acrid as the days unfolded. beer, eating fish and chips (German??), and listening to everyone speak Thai. And that's when my memory takes place. I looked up at the TV and saw the live coverage of Bangkok burning. The Central Mall, a massive retail structure, was burning to the ground. The news anchors were speaking with what sounded to my untrained ear like a mix of urgency and stoicism. And in the background, the restaurant's radio was blasting the oldie (in English): "What the world needs now is love sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of." Our table stopped talking for a moment and just stared at the screen. Like a photograph (with a soundtrack), this little vignette will stay with me forever.
The power of this memorable moment came in part from the clash of cultures in this restaurant; in part from the helplessness I felt from not understanding the language and therefore being vastly limited in my understanding of the situation; and in part from the fact that this place on any other day in my life would be, literally, half a world away, but was now in my temporary backyard. I had seen those streets. I
Detour
By our last day, we were feeling the effects of the protests. Here, we were detoured through a hospital parking lot on our way back to the hotel. had met Thai business owners and workers and students. These were no longer nameless, faceless people being affected. I had names and faces and stories about so many.
I haven't gotten that song out of my head since. And I'm sure I'll never be able to listen to it again without thinking of Thailand and its people.
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Robyn Lucas
non-member comment
We are so grateful that you are out of Thailand. We've been very concerned about all of you. Those few days with no communication from you really added to the tension. We read that many websites had been shut down. We are definately more at ease now. We love you. Take good care of yourself and the rest of the group! M&D XOXOXO