Fighting has escalated in Bangkok both in intensity and in area. Most businesses are closed, and there is now almost no chance of a political solution. Further violence is immanent.
Fighting escalated over the past two days after the army cordoned off a quarter of the city, closing large areas to the press. A bomb last night and continued fighting have raised the death toll to 50. Five foreigners are reported to have been killed (Japanese, Nigerian, Burmese, Canadian, one more).
The Red Shirts appear to have become mobile, moving barricades to locations outside the lockdown area.
Most businesses even in areas unaffected such as where I'm living in Sukhumvit are now closed. Much of Bangkok's public transport has now been closed.
There is a sense of foreboding amongst both Thai and foreign residents about immanent military action and a likely curfew. People are avoiding unnecessary travel and cancelling most appointments.
Until last week I'd been saying that Bangkok is largely unaffected and it is safe. It still is largely safe, but there's a high probability of that changing in the coming week. I would advise avoiding Bangkok because it's impossible to guarantee any area will be safe in the coming week, and it is getting more difficult to map a route through Bangkok that avoids affected areas.
Reply to this gahhh!! we've been avoiding Bangkok for a month now and it's getting worse. that is horrid. I'm assuming Khao san is a definate no go zone then. We were hoping to be there in about a week and a half or so before going into Cambodia. Please keep reporting though, it's good to hear from an insider that isn't the press!!
Reply to this Update: I heard at least one explosion and some small arms fire earlier this evening while I was relaxing in my swimming pool. It's a bit surreal. Also, I'm not anywhere near where the fighting is
supposed to be. So it's clearly getting worse. I went for a walk on Sukhumvit Road (national highway #1) and it was like a ghost town... until the expressway entrance which is the outer limit of the government's siege cordon. Travelling between Sukhumvit and the airport is (ironically) now easier and faster than ever because there's no traffic! That may change if the army expands the siege cordon.
The Prime Minister was on TV telling everyone to calm down and that the big offensive isn't beginning tonight. This hasn't done much to calm people's nerves though. Because if not tonight, then when?
Reply to this And, some of TravelBlogs bloggers are bringing us the news from the ground.
Evening all,
Greetings from Bangkok, formerly the "Land of Smiles", now "War Zone" as the caption on BBC world says. It's bad. But it's not all that bad. Sure, we have been hearing the crack of gunshots and the occasional grenade from our apartment and there is currently a road block outside our apartment but, we're quite safe up here - Lucy's reading her book in the bath, I've just watched qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix and am just waiting for the FA Cup Final to come on the telly. No doubt Portsmouth will get stuffed.
Reply to this What are those landing in Bangkok today doing? Are there easily available flights to get them out of Bangkok right away? Or maybe busses which bypass the city?
Reply to this We're on Ko Lanta right now, we were planning on going into Bangkok for a night and then on to Cambodia, all by bus. not sure if this is a safe idea though? we would be catching a bus directly to Khao San road and then out again, many of the locals down here are saying that the Khao San area is safe and we shouldn't have any problems. Not sure if this is true or not, we're getting so many mixed messages from the media (back home and local) and the local Thais in the area.
Does anyone have any idea how it is on Khao san or the area right now? the reason we wanted to go back there is that we have a bag in storage at a guesthouse as well as a parcel waiting for us at the post office, we wanted to get them picked up before continuing onto Cambodia as we are not sure when we will be back in Thailand.
Reply to this Khao san is currently out of the protest area. It is actually quite far away currently. With the latest, you should have strictly no problems. As always, just don't go anywhere were authorities tell you not to go and you should be on the safe side.
Reply to this Here's a bit more detail on what's going on: http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-498040.html
Reply to this The following is from a blog which was published today.
The Khao San is usually heaving with backpackers, but not at the moment. There are plenty of people around, but nothing like the numbers you would usually see. I know there is a lot of trouble in Bangkok at the moment, but apart from an increased police/military presence, everything seemed safe.
Quote from
Bangkok and beyond
Reply to this yea, from Chris & Lou, we read that one, think it sounds fine in the Khao San. I keep getting emails from back home with worried family members giving us advice. It's hard for them to realize what the situation is like as they are only getting media-filtered information, and across the pacific so I'm sure the stories they are hearing are quite different from the truth.
Apparently the US pulled it's members of the embassy here out of the country yesterday, Canada has only relocated which is good.
I also read about in Chris & Lou's blog about the northern bus station, we were thinking of taking that route to Cambodia, I hear the roads from Poi Pet to Siem Reap have greatly improved in the past few years and it takes only an hour and a half now.
We're still debating going to Bangkok for a night or not. I got an email from my Aunt saying that if we were in a pinch we could contact our embassy and get help retriving our stuff in storage from Khao San, but I think if the fighting is very centralized in one spot, and that one spot isn't near where we want to go that it shouldn't be a problem retreving our things ourselves. my biggest concern would be entering and exiting the city.
is it easy enough to catch a taxi from Khao San to the northern bus station (Morchit), does anyone know if the bus station is still safe?
Reply to this does anyone know if the bus station is still safe?
If it isnt, there are the travel agents on the Khao San Road who have minibus and bus services to various places. They will surely be able to get you at least some of the way to Cambodia. I prefer to use the official busses from the bus stations, but if that option failed, I would certainly take any bus service going where I want to go, and hope they dont live up the dishonest reputation that the bus services from the Khao San Road travel agents have.
Reply to this
Next day (Thursday)after checking the protest situation we all headed off in a canal boat from Saen Saeb Khlong to Pratunam in the main shopping area of Bangkok near where the Red Shirt protesters have blockaded the streets and caused many of the major shopping Malls to close for several weeks.
Quote from
MAYHEM IN BANGKOK, published today.
When I walked out into Sukhumvit Road yesterday there were no more smiles, no light-hearted jokes, and a sense of foreboding permeated every space.
When I walked into my local 7/11 I asked why they had covered the windows with newspaper to make the inside of the shop invisible to the outside world.
"Snipers"
I asked why the alcohol had been removed from the shelves.
"Looters" ...
As I walked down the road towards the army's siege cordon the police and soldiers faces were grim.
Quote from
Thoughts from Bangkok: The evolving Red Shirt protests published today
We are fine and well - situation is holding out here so please don't worry about us. The local people seem to be undecided whether tourists should be here or not. Se have said its perfectly safe as long as we don't go downtown. Others have said that we shouldn't really be in bangkok. Yesterday a tuktuk driver asked whether we wanted to go see the action, "very exciting", and started pretending to shoot people.
Quote from
Entry 1 - Bangkok published today.
Reply to this If there is a day to avoid going around Bangkok it is today and tomorrow...but things could finally clear pretty soon after.
What could be not great...is if the black shirts decide to spread in the city. You speak of few people, but this could be the real danger. Hopefully, this won't happen.
Reply to this Well... they are starting to spread. Asoke, for example, was 2km outside the government siege cordon, but it now has a burning barricade there -- or did have as of two hours ago.
Elsewhere in the city, black shirts seem to be setting up more barricades and burning them. My apartment balcony now stinks of burnt tyres and smoke fills the air. It's probably a last hurrah by the black shirts, and should be over by the weekend, but who knows?
Reply to this AFTER six days of bloody clashes on the streets of Bangkok, Thailand's warring parties are no closer to salvaging a peace. There is no expectation that the latest conflict, which has killed 38 people, will end soon.
With security deteriorating and hopes of a peaceful resolution to the two-month standoff fading, the unrest plunged Thailand deeper into political uncertainty, threatening the country's stability, economy and already-decimated tourism industry.
Reply to this The remaining red/black shirts should be mopped up by the week end.
Reply to this so it should be safe to come in Bangkok again by next week? as long as things go the way they are?
we're hoping so, we wanted to be in Bangkok around the 27th/28th for a night before going to Cambodia. Things getting better would make this so much easier, we were contemplating busing to KL and then flying out into Cambodia or China, but that would cost so much more then busing to Bangkok and then to Cambodia.
So much going on, the worst is back home their getting a skewed picture of what is really going on and we're getting constant emails and calls from home of people worrying about us.
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