Yellow shirts

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Yellow is the new black, in Thailand. For the past 10 days I've been surrounded by a sea of yellow shirts. Its the must have fashion statement.

Also wherever I've been giant pictures of the King of Thailand have stared down at me. Every public building, bank and shopping mall is decorated with huge images of His Royal Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej. I even saw the whole side of a high rise building near Chatuchak Park in Bangkok covered with a giant image of the king. The last time I saw a whole high rise covered in an image like that was in Syria many years ago, when the father of the current dictator of Syria was in power. By the way, Syria is well worth visiting - the people are very friendly.

So, what's with the yellow shirts? Yellow is the traditional colour in Thailand for Monday. The King was born on a Monday. So, the shirts that everyone is wearing are to show loyalty to the King. This year marks 60 years since the King was crowned and December 5th was his official birthday.

The monarchy in Thailand is a sacred cow. No one would attack it. Back in September during the military coup against Taksin Shinawatra the soldiers tied yellow ribbons to their guns to show their support of the King. When the troops surrounded the palace they turned their guns outwards from the palace; as if they were symbolically protecting the monarch from attack. (Not that anyone would attack the king - it would be political suicide.)

The military are not the only ones to try to use the King to bolster their support. Taksin wasn't above trying to use the popularity of the King. I quote from the Nation newspaper from 2005.

Taksin urges people to don yellow T-shirts for HM's birthday. In a tactical move to reverse his popularity slide and show loyalty to the monarchy, Prime Minister Taksin Shinawatra yesterday called on the Thai people to wear yellow shirts and celebrate His Majesty the Kings 60th anniversary on the throne.

(The Nation, November 27th 2005).

Taksins loyalty to the king didn't save him from the military, whilst he was on a jaunt overseas.

The new military government has promised elections for next October - after they have re-written the constitution. I'll believe it when I see it. The catch could be the re-writing of the constitution. Frankly, however venal Takin's government may have become, I don't trust generals who seize power in coups.

Its difficult for me to judge how popular or unpopular the coup has been because I don't speak Thai. But, the latest opinion poll in the Bangkok Post says that 65%!o(MISSING)f Thais are happy with the present military regime. The presence of the military is also very low profile in everyday life. As a tourist you wouldn't notice any difference. Yesterday (the 10th) there was a demonstration in favour of a return to democracy. It took place peacefully. The Internet does not appear to be censored. I found the website of the organisers of the demo yesterday as I was working on this blog.

So, everything appears to be business as usual in Thailand.

CHANGE OF PLANS

Those of my readers who have been following my blogs regularly will have noticed a sudden change in my itinery. I was intending to spend 18 months in the Americas, but when I got to the East coast of the States I changed my mind.

I found that the flights out of New York to London were very cheap. So, I decided to visit Blighty before Christmas to see friends and family. ( And to hell with my carbon footprint!)

A FUNERAL

I arrived back in Britain on the 9th of November. I went to stay with my Dad. Whilst at my Dad's house I got a phone call from my younger brother. He told me that Mrs Laura Noddings had just died. Mrs Noddings was 89 years old. She was the mother of a former girlfriend. My brother had been sending her printed hard copies of my blogs at her request.

So, I arranged to travel up to my old stomping grounds in Leeds. In Leeds I visited various friends and of course went to the funeral service in Guiseley, a suburb of Leeds. Mrs Noddings never judged anyone, was always generous but was nobodies fool. In fact I think she was probably one of the most intelligent people I've ever known, despite her lack of formal education. When she was young, education was thought to be wasted on working class women.

After visiting Leeds I returned to to my Dad's place to watch him perform in a play put on by the village amateur dramatics society.

Then on the 28th of November I flew out of Britain for Bangkok. The start of my next year in Asia.

BANGKOK

I've been in Bangkok several times before. So, I didn't bother with the usual tourist sites. Instead I gave myself time to re-adjust from jet-lag and hung out in Bangkok's air-conditioned shopping malls.

KHORAT AND PHIMAI

On the 2nd of December I finally decided to leave Bangkok to explore the Isaan region in the North East of the country. This is a part of Thailand I haven't seen before. It is also the least touristy part of the country - very few western tourists get out this way.

From the city of Khorat which is the second largest city in Thailand I visited Prasat Hin Phimai. The Phimai temple is the largest sandstone shrine in Thailand. It was built in the 10th century by the Angkor Empire before Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Whilst in the town of Phimai I also visited the nearby museum. Most of the tourist were Thai, very few were ferang (European/Western). Although I met one non Thai couple.

BURIRAM AND PHNOM RUNG

ON the 4th of December I took another 3 hour bus ride to Buriram, a small unlovely town. Although I found a very nice cheap hotel for only 450 Baht (about 10 US dollars), which was air conditioned. That night every Thai TV channel had the same program - a speech by the Thai King on the eve of his birthday.

The next day I went to Phnom Rung National Park. In the park is Prasat Mung Tam and Prasat Phnom Rung. Phnom Rung is on top of an extinct volcano. It is the most impressive of Angkor temples in Thailand. It was built between the 10th to 13th centuries and faces towards Angkor in Cambodia.

PAK CHONG AND KHAO YAI NATIONAL PARK

From Buriram I made my way back to Khorat, where I stayed for a night. Then I continued to Pak Chong, the nearest town to Khao Yai National Park.

Pak Chong was my base for hiking in the Khao Yai National Park, which was the first National Park in Thailand, established in 1962. It was declared a natural World Heritage Site in 2005.

From Pak Chong I returned to Bangkok to work on this blog.

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Photos

Prasat Phimai
Spot the yellow shirt!

Khorat
Spot the yellow shirts!