rachel (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} iamtheminority) wrote,@ 2006-09-21 10:29:00 |
|
The Aftermath: As Rachel lived it.
The morning was not like anyother morning. I woke in a world run by a military coup. I had get a way tickets to New Zealand and only five hours of restless sleep. School was canceled. The day was annouced a national holiday. I hopped directly on to the internet, unsure of how my following day would play out.
The morning was not like anyother morning. I woke in a world run by a military coup. I had get a way tickets to New Zealand and only five hours of restless sleep. School was canceled. The day was annouced a national holiday. I hopped directly on to the internet, unsure of how my following day would play out.
Type your cut contents here.
It was decided that I would go to harpers apartment across the river. My thai buddy said malls were open and that public transportation was still going. To be honest i was VERY scared to leave the house. This is how I found street life. Bustling.
Every morning in bangkok you will see the street cleaners. Just like it was any other morning. I am in a daze.
After a junkfood run at the local seven eleven, i hopped in a taxi and high tailed it over to harpers. We cancel the airplane tickets and prepared for the worst. With harpers trusty video camera we documented our feelings and thoughts, and dressed in our best super hero uniforms. To the roof to practice our super human strength.
We take a minute to gather our thoughts and really contemplate what we are up againist. Are we ready? We have been preparing for this our whole lives: We head to the mall.
And what do we discover?! A cellphone chargering station!????!?
BUNNIES?!?!?!? This really is a coup!
And then the robots came. They were slow and majestic, but robots none the less. This is when we ran into Ashley's roommate Ashley. Now we had heard that tourists were getting their pictures taken with the coup. But we were smarter than to even think of doing that...until Ashley's roommate Ashley and her friends who had just come from the coup. They told us thai people were also there taking pictues, giving the soliders food and flowers. It was totally peaceful and becoming a whole attraction. HOW COULD WE NOT GO!?
I hoped in my third taxi of the day with my friends and we were on our way. These are the soliders that were around our area, protecting the bridge and stuff. These were the first soliders I saw.
These were the second group of soliders I saw. They were just sitting around, hangin out. I asked to take a picture and they were like of course. Again, how could i not. This is my proof, I was there.
Soon after my proof, a group of thai women all dressed in black brought the soilders juice boxes and also posed for a picture.
I read this morning in the bangkok post that the US disapproved of the coup. But theres no coup like a thai coup, an old white man told me this morning. He said this is his fifth thai coup he's been around for. He's estatic about it all. He was telling us about one time when one of his former coups got violent, there was a stand off with guns (not sure who versus who). Then, a group of monks came down the street, the gun fire stopped and waited for the monks to leave the area, gun fire ressumed. What a beautiful example of the thai way.
Thai students I have meet have told me the prime minister was bad news from the begining. He's greedy and doesnt do whats best for thailand. The old man and the thai people say, "Good Ridiance!"
Thai people taking pictures with the coup on the left. On the right, ice cream.
We talked with this solider who spoke very good english. He had been standing here all day, and was going to continue to stand there for another two or three hours. We asked what we should tell our parents about the coup. He said to tell them we met a solider like him. He was very nice, calm and reassuring. He told us there was nothign to be scared of. He had a pleasant smile.
The military is in support of the King. Thats what the yellow ribbion is for. The King was born on a monday, and so thats the Kings color. Thailand loves the king, and from what i can tell he genuinely cares for his people and he's had an amazing reign of sixties years thus far. He's was a photographer, He lives in a modest home compared to other kings. Pictures of him and his wife decorate the city from present times to when they were both very young.
For what seemed a long time, cars would drive through the gate below and then everyone would clap and cheer. We didnt nessesary understand who was in the cars, but I'm not gonna argue with that man's thumbs up.
We got here late in the day and all the tanks had been sent back to where they came from. Things were winding down.
On the right is a fella we started talking to. His name is Tom, he is an expatriot. He just arrived in bangkok that morning from Lao and was hopping right into the action. He was not suprised about how calm the situation was in the city. He said that in southeast asia everyone is very poliete about things. And quite about the dirty stuff. Thats why they waited till Taksin is out of the country and then took his position away from him behind his back. Sneaky and squeaky clean. He said In the past things have escalated into violence after the polite stage. I asked tom, "Do you think this will turn to the violence?" He said with confidence, most likely not.
I think this kid is looking into his future and he is seeing something beautiful.
Suddenly everyone gets very excited, i hold up my camera and snap pictures and then crossed the street to watch from a distance. A luck shot of the guy in the green hat. Apparently he's who the people want to be the new prime minister. History in the making if you will. AND I WAS THERE! I have lived my first and hopefully last military coup, I'm glad it was a joyful one.
But it aint over yet! We are still under martial law. There is no consitution, the government is currently being worked out to return to civilian control. I read it would take up to two weeks. Now I am thinking, would this be like no big deal back in the states? No way. It would be crazy huge, theres no normal the next day. I feel like we'd be lost and scared and crazy and adernaline pumping and talking about it over and over and over. How do you think this situation would effect America had it happened in Washington?
I have an uneducated theory that seems to make sense to me about why is was so calm in Bangkok. Democracy is our first and only form of government in America. I am not sure when democray was instituted in thailand, but before it came the King ran supreme. Thailand is the only country in the area that I understand that was't coloinized. So anything western here thai's brought in because they thought it would be good for the country. I feel like they brought in democracy just so that they could work in harmony with other democratic countries. It's just a facade to say, hey we are modern we are in with the civilized world. They dont need democracy as much as they need their King. There are so many laws here that are completely ignored.
There are so many pieces to the big puzzle and having been appart of this expirance has brought me to an appreication of this country. The way things are done here is so different than home, and it seems to work well on levels that would suprise us. I hope i have conveyed how this military coup is like no other coup you would expect. "There is no coup like a thai coup".
It was decided that I would go to harpers apartment across the river. My thai buddy said malls were open and that public transportation was still going. To be honest i was VERY scared to leave the house. This is how I found street life. Bustling.
Every morning in bangkok you will see the street cleaners. Just like it was any other morning. I am in a daze.
After a junkfood run at the local seven eleven, i hopped in a taxi and high tailed it over to harpers. We cancel the airplane tickets and prepared for the worst. With harpers trusty video camera we documented our feelings and thoughts, and dressed in our best super hero uniforms. To the roof to practice our super human strength.
We take a minute to gather our thoughts and really contemplate what we are up againist. Are we ready? We have been preparing for this our whole lives: We head to the mall.
And what do we discover?! A cellphone chargering station!????!?
BUNNIES?!?!?!? This really is a coup!
And then the robots came. They were slow and majestic, but robots none the less. This is when we ran into Ashley's roommate Ashley. Now we had heard that tourists were getting their pictures taken with the coup. But we were smarter than to even think of doing that...until Ashley's roommate Ashley and her friends who had just come from the coup. They told us thai people were also there taking pictues, giving the soliders food and flowers. It was totally peaceful and becoming a whole attraction. HOW COULD WE NOT GO!?
I hoped in my third taxi of the day with my friends and we were on our way. These are the soliders that were around our area, protecting the bridge and stuff. These were the first soliders I saw.
These were the second group of soliders I saw. They were just sitting around, hangin out. I asked to take a picture and they were like of course. Again, how could i not. This is my proof, I was there.
Soon after my proof, a group of thai women all dressed in black brought the soilders juice boxes and also posed for a picture.
I read this morning in the bangkok post that the US disapproved of the coup. But theres no coup like a thai coup, an old white man told me this morning. He said this is his fifth thai coup he's been around for. He's estatic about it all. He was telling us about one time when one of his former coups got violent, there was a stand off with guns (not sure who versus who). Then, a group of monks came down the street, the gun fire stopped and waited for the monks to leave the area, gun fire ressumed. What a beautiful example of the thai way.
Thai students I have meet have told me the prime minister was bad news from the begining. He's greedy and doesnt do whats best for thailand. The old man and the thai people say, "Good Ridiance!"
Thai people taking pictures with the coup on the left. On the right, ice cream.
We talked with this solider who spoke very good english. He had been standing here all day, and was going to continue to stand there for another two or three hours. We asked what we should tell our parents about the coup. He said to tell them we met a solider like him. He was very nice, calm and reassuring. He told us there was nothign to be scared of. He had a pleasant smile.
The military is in support of the King. Thats what the yellow ribbion is for. The King was born on a monday, and so thats the Kings color. Thailand loves the king, and from what i can tell he genuinely cares for his people and he's had an amazing reign of sixties years thus far. He's was a photographer, He lives in a modest home compared to other kings. Pictures of him and his wife decorate the city from present times to when they were both very young.
For what seemed a long time, cars would drive through the gate below and then everyone would clap and cheer. We didnt nessesary understand who was in the cars, but I'm not gonna argue with that man's thumbs up.
We got here late in the day and all the tanks had been sent back to where they came from. Things were winding down.
On the right is a fella we started talking to. His name is Tom, he is an expatriot. He just arrived in bangkok that morning from Lao and was hopping right into the action. He was not suprised about how calm the situation was in the city. He said that in southeast asia everyone is very poliete about things. And quite about the dirty stuff. Thats why they waited till Taksin is out of the country and then took his position away from him behind his back. Sneaky and squeaky clean. He said In the past things have escalated into violence after the polite stage. I asked tom, "Do you think this will turn to the violence?" He said with confidence, most likely not.
I think this kid is looking into his future and he is seeing something beautiful.
Suddenly everyone gets very excited, i hold up my camera and snap pictures and then crossed the street to watch from a distance. A luck shot of the guy in the green hat. Apparently he's who the people want to be the new prime minister. History in the making if you will. AND I WAS THERE! I have lived my first and hopefully last military coup, I'm glad it was a joyful one.
But it aint over yet! We are still under martial law. There is no consitution, the government is currently being worked out to return to civilian control. I read it would take up to two weeks. Now I am thinking, would this be like no big deal back in the states? No way. It would be crazy huge, theres no normal the next day. I feel like we'd be lost and scared and crazy and adernaline pumping and talking about it over and over and over. How do you think this situation would effect America had it happened in Washington?
I have an uneducated theory that seems to make sense to me about why is was so calm in Bangkok. Democracy is our first and only form of government in America. I am not sure when democray was instituted in thailand, but before it came the King ran supreme. Thailand is the only country in the area that I understand that was't coloinized. So anything western here thai's brought in because they thought it would be good for the country. I feel like they brought in democracy just so that they could work in harmony with other democratic countries. It's just a facade to say, hey we are modern we are in with the civilized world. They dont need democracy as much as they need their King. There are so many laws here that are completely ignored.
There are so many pieces to the big puzzle and having been appart of this expirance has brought me to an appreication of this country. The way things are done here is so different than home, and it seems to work well on levels that would suprise us. I hope i have conveyed how this military coup is like no other coup you would expect. "There is no coup like a thai coup".
