Living Under the Shadow of a Gun

I've just been in Thailand for a month's holiday and was in Bangkok for the coup, which was huge fun. Here's the email I sent on Wednesday evening on 21st September, at the end the first full day of Martial Law:

Being as I am in Bangkok, I thought that I should fill you in on what is really happening here. George Alagaya, BBC's World at One anchor finished his report today with the line that Thais are, "living under the shadow of a gun". Technically speaking this is true, but then everybody in the world lives under the shadow of a gun. It was such a gross exaggeration that I was actually stunned by it. The coup that he's reporting is a completely different one to what I've seen today. I was also told that there is "Martial Law" in Bangkok. I've no idea what that means. The BBC failed elaborate so we are all none the wiser. In fact the BBC made it seem like we are all trapped inside, shivering in fear for our lives, awaiting the evacuation order from our embassies. That tanks are cruising through the streets, that the streets themselves are full of troops, that there is a curfew, that "We're all going to die!".

Its, um, not true. As far as I know, the tanks are around government house. Martial law may be in effect but there's no discernible difference to normal Bangkok, which is a fairly abnormal city anyway. I went out for a pizza in the centre of town this evening and it was only on the way back in the taxi that I actually saw any troops. At one junction there were a couple of soldiers in camouflage with helmets and M-16s standing on a traffic island under a bridge looking bored out of their minds. Just round the corner were two army trucks parked at the side of the road full of sleeping soldiers. Opposite from my friend's apartment there is a Navy radio station which today had two guards in khaki with rifles, again looking about as bored as bored can be. I almost felt sorry for them. Oh, and I saw another one in khaki on the back of the scooter out buying his lunch. It is certainly no Tiananeman Square.

When the news broke last night that there was a coup underway it was rather alarming. I saw it first on the BBC website at about 10.30pm, and switched on the TV. All of the Thai channels, seven in all, were showing the same video, images of the King and Queen with patriotic music playing. Along the bottom of the screen was Thai text that filled with blue. I soon realised that I was watching Karaoke Coup TV with Sing-along subtitles. BBC and CNN were fairly sketchy about what was happening apart from the mention of tanks and troops entering government house. I quickly rattled off an email home saying I was ok, then soon after went to bed, as it became apparent that none of the stations knew what was happening. When I woke this morning at 7am all the international news channels had been taken off the air which was more alarming as, as loathsome as they are, they are actually quite useful when things go pear-shaped. The Thai channels were still looping the same Karaoke video; I'd never realised that I'd miss Thai TV quite so much. As it turned out, today was a public holiday and there was almost no traffic, which made getting around town really really easy, and there was far less pollution. In some ways I wish there was a coup everyday then Bangkok would be almost pleasant.

BBC and CNN came back on around lunchtime which is how I saw their frankly laughable reports. Various taxi drivers said that it was good that, "Army no bang bang", "1992 lots of bang bang", "England Number 1!", "Premier League very good" and that there had been a curfew last night at 10pm and that that poor taxi driver had only made 200B in four hours, which was "No good".

It has been a genuinely exciting day. I can now say that I've been in a capital city having a military coup and I really enjoyed it. I'm extremely glad that it has been bloodless as it would have been really bad if there had been shooting and nastiness. I'm also rather glad that I did see some troops this evening as I was starting to think that it was the lamest coup ever. I mean what kind of military coup doesn't involve soldiers? And then I saw some and felt much better. They don't even look out of place. All security guards here, and there are loads of them everywhere, and all the police are pseudo paramilitary so its good to see some proper non-corruptible no nonsense soldiers. As a friend of mine commented, he almost felt safer now than when the police were in control.

From what I can gather the coup has been completely welcome in Bangkok. It is not an army seizure of power but an army instigated removal of a completely crooked, corrupt and for the last month absent leader, Thaksin. He's been described in the Bangkok Post as Caretaker Prime Minister as the results of the General Election in April/May were annulled after the opposition refused to stand - the BBC will fill you in on the why and wherenots of who he is and why he's so despised. He's now en route to London where he's just bought a new house, and the talk of the town is whether he will come back to Thailand or not. He was rumoured to be returning tomorrow so school has been cancelled for a second day, but really its all guesswork.

Fingers crossed that tonight is peaceful, that the military rule is as short-lived as the generals say it will be, and on a personal level, that my flight isn't delayed on Friday as they were last night and today.The pictures attached (see next post) are of the state TV video loop, and me getting overexcited with today's Bangkok Post.