Alaan
May 20th, 2010, 22:23
Just returned from a visit to Thailand. Just a few observations of things prior to the main violence.
The picture from outside Thailand looking in through the eyes of the media compared to the actual experience once again was night and day, this was before the very start of the worst incidents before things had really kicked-off and things seemed very calm compared to the reporting i had seen in the western media before i arrived. It was strange and surreal being able to walk about silom road with virtually no traffic, but still having workers going about their bisuiness and even the sex dvd sellers still offering 'you like boy, girl', except they stood out like a sore thumb, and lines of army, police razor wire etc...made everything feel rather surreal.
If you were arriving at the airport and heading anywhere outside of the main protest areas you would be none the wiser of any problems in Thailand. However I had booked 3 nights in Saladaeng on my arrival. This was 25th April and although there was a little tension it certainly never felt life-threatening. The main problem I had encountered was flight date changes due to the Ash Cloud rather than goings-on in Bkk. Anyway on arrival at airport I was a little concerned that taxis might not want to go to Saladaeng. No problem! was the reply of the Issan driver of the first taxi allocated to me, and I have to say it was the quickest and cheapest journey I have made from the airport to saladaeng area ever. My flight via Amsterdam was a full 747, though on arrival the airport was quieter than normal, and NO ques at immigration.
I had decided to try alternative hotel to the usual Tarntawan on this trip....BaanSaladaeng had been recommended so I decided to give it a try. Although the road on which my hotel was located was lined with resting/sleeping soldiers the mood was easy. They all looked bored to be honest, but at this point there had been only sporadic skirmishes. I had decided to see what the area was like and would have moved on quickly had the mood changed. The soldiers were very friendly, even smiley and ok for quick chats, but my, they looked SO young.
Baansaladaeng is a small guesthouse (8 rooms?) but the room I had was very spacious and it was nice to have a balcony. Bathroom with rain-shower, large lounging area and bedroom area. I dont normally have breakfast as such, but after one enjoyable evening around silom/suriwong we moved onto a karaoke about 10 mins away which was quite big for a late-night place with good food and arrived back at the guesthouse at 7.30am in time for the breakfast. Eggs/ham/fruit/toast/juice was ideal before heading to sleep. It wasn't upscale and maybe a little pretentious on its claim of boutique, but would probably stay here again, i would also like to try other places in the area. It certainly wouldn't replace the Tarntawan as my normal short stay hotel before leaving for home, difficult to park, not easy with breakfast time and obviously none of the hotel features such as room service etc.
The last 3 nights of my trip I stayed in the Tarntawan, and it was up to its usual fine standard. This was about 3 weeks later on from my Apr 25 arrival and it was incredible just how things had deteriorated in that time in the surrounding area. But again, most of the Suriwong nightlife was open as usual, arbeit with very few customers, whereas only a few hundred meters away the scene was so different. I read over on another gay forum that a poster there had similar experiences to mine, one being the amount of Thais coming to the area just to spectate i agree was incredible, given the potentional danger. Cars/taxis parked all over the place, choking up exit roads, and everyone climbing up to vantage points to get the best view, it seemed 'typical' of the 'Thai onlooker culture' but insane considering the amount of 'stray bullets' which landed up being fired around later on after I had left the area.
But the closest I came to gunfire was not at the Silom flashpoints, but at an exceptional beach concert in Cha-Am. We decided to head down there for a couple of days by the seaside rather than Pattaya/Jomtien for a change. Cha-Am is a few miles up the coast from the larger Hua-Hin, and in my opinion a much nicer place to relax, primarily because there are very few foreigners as it is a Thai for Thai resort. The concert was from 9pm to about 1am, and was a Leo Beer promoted concert with Maleehuanna Band and Pongsit Kumpee two very big Thai folk 'superstars'. Bt30 entrance and a massive audience of Thai families, females together, boys/youths in groups and as usual a fair number of camp gays and katoey types all having a great time.
That was until virtually the last number by Pongsit Kumpee at about 1am, a good proportion of the crowd had already left, and as usual a few drunken testosterone fuelled fights broke out, a couple in the usual fair mob-violence Thai way with ten kicking into one poor soul. Then BANG! a gunshot rangout just beside the stage, and a very concerned Pongsit Kumpee and band stopped the music, and looked on as more flights broke out and another couple of shorts rang out and then quite a bit of panic as those close the scene fled jumping over the large amount of plactic seats. We were right at the back as we were heading out after the first bang. beside the security/police who slowly decided to sort things out. Later we heard a few cracks together, but some Thais told us that the gun was probably a homemade job, and the later shots were probably just firecrackers.
I have been to many Thai concerts all over the country and fights at 1-2am are a usual scene, but this was the first time I had come accross weapons and more especially guns being part of it, so it just shows that even a sleepy Thai resort is now just as likely to have an uncomfortable incident, but the amount of booze available and no doubt drugs being used when everyone is blind drunk after hours of drinking is usually the flashpoint time. Shame really as it spoils such a good night of music with so many Thai families attending with very young kids, babies etc and before the incident the atmosphere was very happy and relaxed with many Thais approaching for a cheers with the Leo beer cans.
We stayed in a guesthouse right accross from the beach and at 2am the scene was lovely, moon and stars, cool sea breeze, a few Thais camped out on the beach in tents of all sizes, BBQs and small fires burning here and there with young Thais gathered round drinking and eating, at least left me with a romantic notion of Cha-Am.
The entertainment scene in Bkk was quiet. The agogogs seemd to have very little customers, but the beerbars in soi twilight Maxxis, Banana bar etc were failrly steady/busy. A couple of nights before the start of the big crackdown in Bkk I heard DJ station was open so headed there about 12.30am. I read also on another gay forum of a farang who went earlier than i did before 12 and he said that there were only a handful of customers., by 12.30am it was much busier but well short of the usual numbers there. But it did allow for free access round the venue with no worries about crushing at the exits, also plenty of room on the dancfloor, and surprisingly many many boys available, more than i usually notice, but that was probably because everyone wasn't so packed together and you could see them. A couple of boys I spoke to said they normally work in Soi Twighlight but gave that a miss as it was so quiet and decided to see was was 'available' at DJ or just have some fun.
The quietness of soi twilight gogos was clear, but i did pop into Classic Boys to catch up with an old friend who worked in the show, to find Classic completely changed, more seating, all the old mamsans/waiters now left and my friend was now one of the new mamasans, only 2 customers and about 8 boys, the quietest i have seen for a decade, but of course due to exceptional circumstances, but not sure how the loss of the long-serving mamasans and waiters will inpact later on as i know they were popular with many Asians.
Also visited Pattaya, but there seems to be enough written about things there so I wont bother to add more, plenty of expts on here are already up to date with goings-on there.
Overall I was surprised to find lots of positive comments about the Red Shirts even though it was them who seemed to be causing most of the inconveniences to normal life, from many of the boys, although I did not express an opinion either way when it came to any questions of what I thought about the current situation, 'not for foreigners to comment' was my standard relpy then move quickly onto something else. The Bangkok part of my visit was so strange given that the rest of my visit which included visits to Issan, Ayutthaya, Cha-Am, Pattaya was just as normal as usual.
Like everybody i will just have to see how things pan out and hope for the best in terms of a peaceful/settled period of time after the last of the hard-line demonstrators have ran out of energy.
The picture from outside Thailand looking in through the eyes of the media compared to the actual experience once again was night and day, this was before the very start of the worst incidents before things had really kicked-off and things seemed very calm compared to the reporting i had seen in the western media before i arrived. It was strange and surreal being able to walk about silom road with virtually no traffic, but still having workers going about their bisuiness and even the sex dvd sellers still offering 'you like boy, girl', except they stood out like a sore thumb, and lines of army, police razor wire etc...made everything feel rather surreal.
If you were arriving at the airport and heading anywhere outside of the main protest areas you would be none the wiser of any problems in Thailand. However I had booked 3 nights in Saladaeng on my arrival. This was 25th April and although there was a little tension it certainly never felt life-threatening. The main problem I had encountered was flight date changes due to the Ash Cloud rather than goings-on in Bkk. Anyway on arrival at airport I was a little concerned that taxis might not want to go to Saladaeng. No problem! was the reply of the Issan driver of the first taxi allocated to me, and I have to say it was the quickest and cheapest journey I have made from the airport to saladaeng area ever. My flight via Amsterdam was a full 747, though on arrival the airport was quieter than normal, and NO ques at immigration.
I had decided to try alternative hotel to the usual Tarntawan on this trip....BaanSaladaeng had been recommended so I decided to give it a try. Although the road on which my hotel was located was lined with resting/sleeping soldiers the mood was easy. They all looked bored to be honest, but at this point there had been only sporadic skirmishes. I had decided to see what the area was like and would have moved on quickly had the mood changed. The soldiers were very friendly, even smiley and ok for quick chats, but my, they looked SO young.
Baansaladaeng is a small guesthouse (8 rooms?) but the room I had was very spacious and it was nice to have a balcony. Bathroom with rain-shower, large lounging area and bedroom area. I dont normally have breakfast as such, but after one enjoyable evening around silom/suriwong we moved onto a karaoke about 10 mins away which was quite big for a late-night place with good food and arrived back at the guesthouse at 7.30am in time for the breakfast. Eggs/ham/fruit/toast/juice was ideal before heading to sleep. It wasn't upscale and maybe a little pretentious on its claim of boutique, but would probably stay here again, i would also like to try other places in the area. It certainly wouldn't replace the Tarntawan as my normal short stay hotel before leaving for home, difficult to park, not easy with breakfast time and obviously none of the hotel features such as room service etc.
The last 3 nights of my trip I stayed in the Tarntawan, and it was up to its usual fine standard. This was about 3 weeks later on from my Apr 25 arrival and it was incredible just how things had deteriorated in that time in the surrounding area. But again, most of the Suriwong nightlife was open as usual, arbeit with very few customers, whereas only a few hundred meters away the scene was so different. I read over on another gay forum that a poster there had similar experiences to mine, one being the amount of Thais coming to the area just to spectate i agree was incredible, given the potentional danger. Cars/taxis parked all over the place, choking up exit roads, and everyone climbing up to vantage points to get the best view, it seemed 'typical' of the 'Thai onlooker culture' but insane considering the amount of 'stray bullets' which landed up being fired around later on after I had left the area.
But the closest I came to gunfire was not at the Silom flashpoints, but at an exceptional beach concert in Cha-Am. We decided to head down there for a couple of days by the seaside rather than Pattaya/Jomtien for a change. Cha-Am is a few miles up the coast from the larger Hua-Hin, and in my opinion a much nicer place to relax, primarily because there are very few foreigners as it is a Thai for Thai resort. The concert was from 9pm to about 1am, and was a Leo Beer promoted concert with Maleehuanna Band and Pongsit Kumpee two very big Thai folk 'superstars'. Bt30 entrance and a massive audience of Thai families, females together, boys/youths in groups and as usual a fair number of camp gays and katoey types all having a great time.
That was until virtually the last number by Pongsit Kumpee at about 1am, a good proportion of the crowd had already left, and as usual a few drunken testosterone fuelled fights broke out, a couple in the usual fair mob-violence Thai way with ten kicking into one poor soul. Then BANG! a gunshot rangout just beside the stage, and a very concerned Pongsit Kumpee and band stopped the music, and looked on as more flights broke out and another couple of shorts rang out and then quite a bit of panic as those close the scene fled jumping over the large amount of plactic seats. We were right at the back as we were heading out after the first bang. beside the security/police who slowly decided to sort things out. Later we heard a few cracks together, but some Thais told us that the gun was probably a homemade job, and the later shots were probably just firecrackers.
I have been to many Thai concerts all over the country and fights at 1-2am are a usual scene, but this was the first time I had come accross weapons and more especially guns being part of it, so it just shows that even a sleepy Thai resort is now just as likely to have an uncomfortable incident, but the amount of booze available and no doubt drugs being used when everyone is blind drunk after hours of drinking is usually the flashpoint time. Shame really as it spoils such a good night of music with so many Thai families attending with very young kids, babies etc and before the incident the atmosphere was very happy and relaxed with many Thais approaching for a cheers with the Leo beer cans.
We stayed in a guesthouse right accross from the beach and at 2am the scene was lovely, moon and stars, cool sea breeze, a few Thais camped out on the beach in tents of all sizes, BBQs and small fires burning here and there with young Thais gathered round drinking and eating, at least left me with a romantic notion of Cha-Am.
The entertainment scene in Bkk was quiet. The agogogs seemd to have very little customers, but the beerbars in soi twilight Maxxis, Banana bar etc were failrly steady/busy. A couple of nights before the start of the big crackdown in Bkk I heard DJ station was open so headed there about 12.30am. I read also on another gay forum of a farang who went earlier than i did before 12 and he said that there were only a handful of customers., by 12.30am it was much busier but well short of the usual numbers there. But it did allow for free access round the venue with no worries about crushing at the exits, also plenty of room on the dancfloor, and surprisingly many many boys available, more than i usually notice, but that was probably because everyone wasn't so packed together and you could see them. A couple of boys I spoke to said they normally work in Soi Twighlight but gave that a miss as it was so quiet and decided to see was was 'available' at DJ or just have some fun.
The quietness of soi twilight gogos was clear, but i did pop into Classic Boys to catch up with an old friend who worked in the show, to find Classic completely changed, more seating, all the old mamsans/waiters now left and my friend was now one of the new mamasans, only 2 customers and about 8 boys, the quietest i have seen for a decade, but of course due to exceptional circumstances, but not sure how the loss of the long-serving mamasans and waiters will inpact later on as i know they were popular with many Asians.
Also visited Pattaya, but there seems to be enough written about things there so I wont bother to add more, plenty of expts on here are already up to date with goings-on there.
Overall I was surprised to find lots of positive comments about the Red Shirts even though it was them who seemed to be causing most of the inconveniences to normal life, from many of the boys, although I did not express an opinion either way when it came to any questions of what I thought about the current situation, 'not for foreigners to comment' was my standard relpy then move quickly onto something else. The Bangkok part of my visit was so strange given that the rest of my visit which included visits to Issan, Ayutthaya, Cha-Am, Pattaya was just as normal as usual.
Like everybody i will just have to see how things pan out and hope for the best in terms of a peaceful/settled period of time after the last of the hard-line demonstrators have ran out of energy.