Red Shirts update...

Well, from our living room here in east Bangkok there may as well be no troubles whatsoever. It's been a sad day for Thailand - in fact, a sad three days. 


Once you live in Thailand long enough to connect with some of the people and you start to fuse yourself into the rhythm of life here, you can't help but feel the anger, frustration and sadness towards the current situation in this country. The thing is, if you wander around the village where we live, you wouldn't believe that the Thai army are encircling 5,000 Red Shirt protesters just a few miles away in the city. Life in Thailand is carrying on as normal, albeit with a slight tension in the air: a quiet knowledge will show in people's eyes as you walk down the street, televisions in roadside stalls will be stuck on the news channel, no one will be wearing red or yellow. 


As an expat, I know even less of the situation and watch the BBC World News for updates - I tend to ignore the English speaking press here, as their alarmist reporting of the situation makes me sick. Believe it or not, we're tuning in to the Guardian and the Beeb website for more accurate and unbiased reports on the situation. 


We are lucking enough to live in a village which is inhabited mainly by the Thai middle to upper classes, so it shouldn't be a surprise to see lots of yellow flags flying here - the Yellow Shirts are for the current government. In fact, most of Bangkok are 'yellow' as this is essentially a class issue; the rural poor are marching on the streets of the urban wealthy. 


Whatever your views on this, and they're best kept to yourself if you're an expat living in Thailand, it seems from reports on the net that Abhisit will not take this lying down and has vied to strengthen the military presence in the troubled area. 


The detachment you feel as an immigrant here is surreal - I wasn't sure whether or not to be angry with the farang who appeared on the news fighting with the Red Shirts. Who was he? A bored idiot, wholly different from the people he was defending, with nothing better to do? Or was he a global idealist, simply fighting for the underdog? Judging by his comment, 'I thought this was the land of smiles', I'd go for the former. Mate, the Tory's are back - go home and protest against that! 


My point? If this were in the UK, I'd have an opinion. Over here, with little to no knowledge of the workings of the Thai political system, I just feel like an ignorant voyeur. Time to brush up on Thai political history... 


We really hope that for the sake of this special country, and for the people protesting, that this will end peacefully.