Notes from Bangkok during a coup

There is an uncomfortable twinge while I watch the TV news channels and look down from my 10-story window at the streets of sordid Patpong, Bangkok. The news warns me that there is martial law, that there are tanks on the streets, that there are "soldiers every 100 yards at major intersections". Yet I've seen nothing of the sort. I watch the soldiers on the TV and ask "where are they"? I repeat the phrase "martial law" and ask myself, "So why are all the bars & shops open as normal until very late in the evening"?

A London colleague said the TV was showing/implying that the street stalls of Patpong were closing early because of martial law, but I was there near midnight last night and saw them packing up because of a sudden downpour. The coup and martial law had happened hours earlier. There were no soldiers or policemen telling them to go home.

I am not the type stay locked away in a hotel room all day long. I walked around Bangkok today, partially for the exercise (certainly not for the fresh air) and partially to see if there was indeed any military presence. There was none. While my half-an-hour walk may have been long by London standards and an eon by American standards, it still did not take me anywhere near Government House (Dusit area) where all the drama is happening. I do not deny that there is any drama, or that military coups are unacceptable. All I say is that while walking street-level from Patpong to Pathumwan, and spending hours walking around the malls, shops and cinemas of Siam, I oberved that business is most definitely as usual. The IMAX being closed for the occasion didn't strike me as being a great hardship to the Thai people.

One of the most telling conversations I had was with a clerk from The Body Shop who was not bothered by the coup, but by the fact that she had to work on a day the military had declared "a day of rest". I felt a bit guilty, since I had been told to stay away from the office, and here I was out wandering the shops, glad for the chance to save a couple of quid on some tea tree facial wash.

Perhaps I was warned off from work because the building I work in is named after the (ex-)prime minister, and he still owns part of the company I work with. Oh, and apparently there are troops outside the building, which would make it difficult to get inside anyway. But I am told that the banks, stock market and schools will re-open tomorrow, and I am expected to get back to work.

The PM was once incredibly popular, and was elected with his party to a huge majority not too long ago. But Thailand and its economy have been on hold for months during a political and legal stalemate. Most commentators I've seen on TV have expressed relief that the stalemate has been broken, even if that means throwing democracy out the door. Those commentators have almost all been Western, and my interaction with Thais has been very limited, so I can't confirm what the Thai masses really feel. I'll see what I can find out for my next entry.