BANGKOK PROTEST - BANGKOK SHUT DOWN

The stage at Asoke was dismantled last night.  We walked through after 3am to find that although you couldn't drive through the site, the stage, big screens, tents etc had all gone.  There were a few forlorn people sitting around and a lot of rubbish too, though the garbage trucks were out and about clearing as much as they could.

BANGKOK PROTESTS

I skirted around Democracy Monument yesterday and managed to snap these photos from the car.  This was the only sign I could spot of the trouble earlier in the week.

CENTRAL WORLD DISPLAY

Central World has a stunning display of pink oriental umbrellas in one of the atriums.

BANGKOK PROTESTS - BANGKOK SHUTDOWN

It seems that the roadblock at Asoke is bedding in.  This afternoon they have erected two more giant screens.  This will effectively close Asoke junction off unless they allow traffic to travel up Ratchadaphisek, through the roadblock and onto Sukhumvit towards Nana, as they have been doing up until today (yep, I got caught in the traffic chaos there!).

BANGKOK PROTESTS - A RELATIVELY PEACEFUL ELECTION DAY

Despite worries to the contrary, voting went ahead yesterday relatively peacefully.  Below is the voting station next to Emporium.  There were very few people there when I arrived in the afternoon and the streets were quiet, but within a few hours more people were out and about.  I suppose people were waiting to see if there was any trouble before venturing out.

A BIT OF THIS AND A BIT OF THAT

I know I am not the only person who is bored by the whole protest movement, it is almost the first thing we say to each other when we meet up.  Now I could be wrong, but it looks like we are not the only bored ones.  Taken at Asoke yesterday.  If you can't see it, one of the men is asleep in a hammock.  

BANGKOK PROTESTS - BANGKOK SHUTDOWN

By now we are all used to seeing these marches around various parts of Bangkok but I had to laugh yesterday as on this march along Sukhumvit, they had really got into the singing, led by this man on a truck,

Bangkok Protests - Bangkok Shut Down

A trip back to the Silom/Rama IV junction today showed a different picture to earlier in the week.  Despite now being under a state of emergency, which doesn't allow for large gatherings (I think more than 5 constitutes large), people were clearly not about to move.  Men were busy erecting a huge metal support structure for an awning, that would pretty much span a huge part of the junction.

As usual at the roadblocks, a concert was taking place.  Several older ladies in the crowd were up dancing.

Bangkok Protest - Bangkok Shut Down Day Whatever!

There are some things no amount of protesters are going to keep me from and collecting my sewing machine from the repair shop is just one (Diet Coke and chocolate head the list).  It took 15 minutes door to door, a journey that normally takes about 35 minutes if the traffic is good.   We drove through the roadblock at Asoke, as you can see, we were simply a steady stream of vehicles.

Bangkok Protests - Bangkok Shut Down Day 6 contd.

While last night was relatively quiet at the Silom roadblock, we arrived home to find things have livened up at the Asoke junction.  Suthep (the protest leader) was mid speech when we arrived, so there was a lot of cheering and whistle blowing.

Bangkok Protests - Bangkok Shut Down Day 6

Taken yesterday outside Central World.  A you can see, not many people siting there.  Mind you, in the full blaze of the sun, I'm not sure I would either.

Bangkok Protests - Bangkok Shut Down Day 4 Continued

Just so that you can see the difference between what happens during the day at the road blocks and what it looks like after work.  These were taken about 6.30pm as people start arriving at the protest area after work.  They are of the same area (Silom) as the last post.

Bangkok Protests - Bangkok Shut Down Day 4

Today I took a look at the road block at Silom.  As you can see, the top half of Silom, as far as Soi Convent, is a bit of a market, selling the usual stuff as well as tee-shirts, horns etc to support the protests.

Bangkok Protests - Bangkok Shut Down Day 3

Today there were more cars and small trucks using Sukhumvit than yesterday.  I also noticed that the street vendors are back.  I was interested to see where all the cars were coming from, so I walked around the barriers at Asoke to have a look.

For cars travelling from the direction of Phrom Phom, they turned down in the direction of Rama IV, or came across from Soi 16 and simply cut through a gap in the barriers, which was manned by one solitary figure, whom you can see standing to the left of the gap.

Bangkok Shut Down

This was the scene at Asoke this morning at 10am.  Not many protesters around.  It seems to liven up in the evening.

Bangkok Protests - Shut Down Bangkok Day 1

As usual your trusty girl (ok, old bat) reporter was out at the crack of dawn (well 7am) to check out the situation with the protests.

The camp was still being set up when I arrived and they were still allowing a certain flow of traffic as I think the shut down comes into full effect at 9am.  This is taken at the crossroads at Asoke, where a stage has been set up.  They have only had the loudspeaker going for a few hours and it is already getting on my nerves!