Bangkok Madness--Security Update

Violence, riots erupting across parts of Bangkok, Thailand, late May 19 amid army crackdown to disperse red-shirt protesters. Shelter in place.

Updated Information (1600 GMT May 19)
As of late May 19, riots are occurring in many parts of Bangkok amid the army offensive against the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protest camp. The army has seized control of large portions of the red-shirts' fortified encampment, prompting thousands of protesters to flee. Though many demonstrators have left the city, others have reorganized in small groups across Bangkok and are looting and torching prominent buildings, including the stock exchange, Central World shopping center, Siam Paragon shopping center, Metropolitan Electricity Authority headquarters, Central 3 TV station, and many banks. A small group of protesters has gathered outside Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) but are being held back by security forces. Airport operations are not being affected. Security forces have been authorized to shoot on sight anyone looting, committing arson, or inciting unrest.

A curfew is in effect in Bangkok from 2000-0600. Individuals departing from BKK during the curfew are permitted to travel to the airport but must carry travel documents. Checkpoints are being set up across the city. Nearly all businesses and banks will remain closed through at least May 21; the stock exchange will not reopen until May 24.

Officials report six dead in the May 19 battles. Fighting in the capital has left more than 40 dead and 300 wounded since May 7. At least four UDD leaders have surrendered to police and are urging supporters to return to their homes. The government is reportedly providing buses and security to allow protesters to depart Bangkok safely. This move could contribute to growing violence in the red-shirts' strongholds in northeastern Thailand. On May 19, some 2,000 protesters set fire to a city hall in Udon Thani Province and vandalized the city hall in Khon Kaen. Mobs have also attacked troops in Ubon Ratchathani. Unconfirmed reports indicate unrest and fires have broken out in the northern city of Chiang Mai. A curfew is in effect in 23 provinces.

Analysis
Many foreign governments have issued strongly worded warnings for Thailand, urging citizens to defer travel to Bangkok. Some foreign governments have authorized the withdrawal of nonessential diplomatic staff. The warnings reflect concerns about potential widespread violence in the capital associated with the military crackdown.

Meet my friend, Denial.

My remaining days in Bangkok are consisting of shopping, exploring the city and spending time with my favorite people. Also, continuing to “celebrate” as all the exchange students are going back home, one by one.

Although I love having these gatherings and celebration, it is truly an emotional experience. I still can’t wrap around the idea that I am leaving... This country has been my home for the last 5 months. I refuse to leave.

Homeless?

As my lease expires before the end of the month and my flight home is not until June 2^nd, I was beginning to search for a place to stay.

One day, over lunch with a Thai friend, I mentioned this. She told me that she was staying with a friend for a while because her place was not safe at the time and she has an extra room. She told me that she would bet her friend would not mind at all if I moved f

or my remaining stay in Thailand.

She called me the next day and told me her friend, who attends Chulalongkorn Med School, would be happy to have me stay at her place.

Man, was I relieved to hear this news! Just another this I wo

n’t have to stress about as I am leaving. I am extremely grateful to have such kind people around me.

In just a couple of days, I will be living in a high rise condo, literally blocks away from the Platinum Mall, known as Thailand’s largest fashion mall wholesale shopping. My FAVORITE mall in Bangkok! =]

Protests ending soon (hopefully)!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/08/2893854.htm?section=justin

Red Shirts set to end protest

Thailand's red shirt leaders say it is likely they will end their protest in central Bangkok on Monday as long as the government lifts the State of Emergency it has imposed in the city.

The state of emergency officially means that large groups of people can be forcibly dispersed by police.

The anti-government protestors say it is appropriate to end their protest on the May 10 as a sign of respect to those killed in protest related violence exactly one month earlier.

The protest leaders say they will finalise their plans and release a detailed response to the government's road map to reconciliation in the next 24 hours.

Boooo

This morning was rather irritating! I woke up a little late for class. On the way to class my new sandal broke (I should have known)! So, I had to come up with a quick solution. Then I decided to turn in paperwork for Thai Studies and just go in class late. I went in the office with dripping sweat to discover that I wasn't registered for one my classes that I am required to take abroad...??...they are so disorganized! I had to turn in the SAME paperwork 3 times within these 3 months. Get it together already!!

After class, I cleaned my room and then I made this collage! Usually art related things stresses me out but this was really relaxing! I love it. I will be hanging it on my wall =)

Ayutthaya

Today my friend Kelly and I took a train to the historic city of Ayutthaya. It was the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. This city was destroyed by the Burmese in the 18th century. Now all there is to see are the ruins. We visited all the main ruins in one day. It was burning hot but I had a blast!

We took a tuk tuk all day to all the ruins

They were trying to charge us 50 Baht for taking this pic...

The famous Buddha's head in a tree

The pagodas

Cooking at Pi Maa's, Sanam Chan Palace, & Birthday Celebration

After returning from an exciting two days at Khao Yai National Park, I decided to go to a cooking class event coordinated by Pi Maa, who is the head of International Student Affairs. We had to be up and ready by 8AM. We headed off to a food market to buy our ingredients and eat breakfast. Once we were finished we drove to Pi Maa's house. We learned how to cook three dishes: Pad Thai, Tom Yum Goong, and Mango Sticky Rice. It was really exciting to see all the students excited to prepare and cook. It was kind of like a family reunion and the food was DELICIOUS!

Market

Cooking Pad Thai

Lunch is served!

Cheers!

Thanks Allison!

After the feast we went to Sanam Chan Palace. Built by Rama VI, this palace is located in Nakhon Pathom. It is a small castle with French and English influence structure.

After a long day we were definitely ready to go home and take a nap...and then our van got a flat tire in the middle of the highway...Yikes!

Glad we survived!

Later that night we went out for my birthday at an Indian restaurant and then few of us went dancing at RCA! What a crazy day!

Dinner

Route 66!

Khao Yai National Park

For my birthday I wanted to do something different this year, so a few of us took a short trip to Khao Yai, Thailand's first national park.

We arrived at the park Friday afternoon. There was a large sign displaying entrance free rate:

Thai Nationals- 40 Baht

Foreigners - 400 Baht

Price discrimination sucks! Luckily we're Thammasat Students, so used our student ID to pay Thai price!

We were meeting up with two of our friends who were already there at a camp site, which was 30km from the entrance. While the lady was collecting our fees she told us to hitchhike there. She said it was safe. So, there we were standing on the side of the street waving down cars to take us to the camp. A nice local stopped for us in a truck. Two of my friends jumped in the back and I was sitting in the front. The guy didn't speak any English and I felt awful since I couldn't speak much Thai either. I was sitting next to him trying to not create any awkward silence. I tried using few Thai words to tell him the view was beautiful and the camp site we were trying to get to. He was also very friendly. He stopped on the side of the road so we could look at a barking deer and bunch of monkeys. I saw a crocodile too as we were passing by some creek!

When he dropped us off at the camp site our friend's were staying at it was already getting dark. We decided to rent a tent and set it up immediately. Then we waited for other exchange students who took a later bus to arrive to the camp site. We were suppose to go to a night safari but since all of them got there so late we decided to ditch the idea and play cards.

Five of us woke up really early the next morning because we wanted to see elephants. We decided to take a walk and unfortunately, there were no elephants in sight! What we did find were an teal-green colored scorpion and a waterfall.

We hitchhiked back to our campsite, ate breakfast and when the others were ready we headed to the main waterfall.

Afterwards, we ate lunch and had the chance to relax for a bit before our next adventure: BAT CAVES! We had to hitchhike back to the main entrance and walk about 5km. We asked people along the journey about how to get to the bat caves. One guy gave us a tip on a shortcut he heard about. We had to walk to a temple, Behind the temple, there was a small village. We ran into some kids who told us they will show us to the bat caves, but of course in exchange for money. So, for 50 baht per person these two random kids took us on this crazy journey where we walked about a kilometer into the woods and literally climbed a mountain 1km high. Believe me when I say this was no easy task. When our exhausted souls made it to the top, we had more than an hour to spare before the sunset. Meanwhile we explored the smelly bat cave, sat around and took pictures. Right after sunset, one bat came out to check out the scene and went back in to inform the others. Immediately after, swarms of bats that came out of the cave in an uniform line following the leader. It was most amazing and definitely worth the trip!

Waterfall

Resting after a long hike to the bat caves

Survivor Camp at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy

YES! As you can see from the title, I went to a Thai military camp!! A weekend trip to Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy with Thammasat American Studies Club.

There were 8 exchange students and about 20 Thai students who ended up going to this Survivor Camp.

Friday afternoon, we met the Thai kids at Ransit Campus, which is 45 mins away from Tha Prachan (my campus). From there we took a bus to the military camp. The bus ride over was our first encounters with all the Thai students and immediately we knew we made the right decision to go to this camp!

We arrived in the evening and ate some great food! We had some ice breakers and got to learn about each other...oh yeah very much like a summer camp! During this time I discovered our bathroom...squat toilets and community shower! Fun fun! We didn't do much the rest of the night since it was already time for bed, but since I am a night owl, I stayed up late and played Thai card games with Rangsit kids!

Next day we had to wake up bright and early. We had a fairly large breakfast consisting johk (rice soup) with vegetables and eggs (YUM). Then we visited the Military museum. After that the real fun began.

We had to go through a military walk rally with 8 different obstacles courses in our path. This was really hot, sweaty, and painful but definitely fun!
We also went hang gliding! I went to a shooting range for the first time! That night we learned a lot of Traditional Thai dances. We also had the chance to show off our talents...I chose Indian Dancing lol.

On our last day we played Thai sports! Also, I canoed for the first time. We went Zip lining over the water and BB Gunning. Absolutely amazing!

I had a time of my life past weekend. It felt great to be a kid again =D

Below are some pictures!

Bed Supper Club

A very classy, upscale club that has beds along the wall.There was a similar club in Sex and the City or maybe that's where they got this idea. Before 9PM they serve four-course dinner, which is very expensive! First Wednesday of every month is Sex and the City-Ladies Night at Bed Supperclub. What does that entail? Ladies get in FREE and 3 drinks!

Philippines!

During the first month of school we had a week break for the Thammasat football matches (don't get too jealous; we actually have to make up the class hours we missed with extra scheduled classes on SATURDAYS!) With having ten free days it gave us a lot of opportunity to actually travel outside of the country and a bunch of us decided travel to the Philippines!
We left on Friday 22nd on Kuwait Airways and arrived to Manila three hours later. Immediately, I noticed PALM TREES...and how western this country is. Everyone speaks English so traveling around was not a problem at all. Manila, the capital of Philippines is truly a melting pot of several different cultures. Manila was colonized by the Spaniards for years and years. The Spanish influence was apparent during my visit. Apart from this the US also colonized Manila.

The city itself is very large. The traffic was pretty bad but definitely not worse compared to Bangkok! The nightlife in this city is very popular and there are numerous bars and restaurants that are open very late. The clubs we went to were very upscale and they play all the latest American pop music and were open until 5AM! We also visited Mall of Asia, the 4th largest mall in the world. It was pretty amazing; there was a big skating ring in the middle of the mall. Also, every brand could be found there but they were all western priced.

Boracay Island
On Sunday we went to Boracay, a popular island where many locals and tourists go for vacation. We stayed there for 5 nights. It was paradise! I have never seen water so clear and the sky so blue! I never got bored relaxing on the beach and watching the sunset day after another especially during the cooler evenings, which doesn’t exist in Bangkok. Only little hiccup during this visit was I got food poisoning and was sick for couple days. Otherwise, the island nightlife was quite fun. All the restaurants and bars were just a few steps away from the beach! This place was full with people from all over the world.



Amazing sand castles

A few of us went on a boat tour on the third day. They took us around the beautiful island and different places where we could snorkel. We also explored the Crystal Cove cave!
Snorkeling for the first time!
Cave 1

Climbing Cave 2
Leaving the Island





The Coconut Palace, Manila

On my last day in Manila a few of us decided to visit one of the tourist attractions and we picked the Coconut Palace. The Coconut Palace is a guest house built in 1978. This unique building is made out of various Philippine wood and materials derived from coconuts. This place was built at the command of Imelda Marcos as a palace for Pope John Paul II on one of his visits to Manila. However, the pope declined the offer, saying that it was too ostentatious a place to stay in the poverty stricken Philippines. The Coconut Palace is now a museum, with its seven bedrooms displaying different regional styles of home interior design and furnishing.

Coconut Lamp

Poor kids had to make this because the pieces were so small for an adult hand.

Necklace made of Cobra skeleton!

The Library