Thai Military Coup In Bangkok: A Personal View
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I live in Bangkok. Tonight the city underwent a military coup. This is my own small recollection of the evening's events from my own perspective.
Bangkok underwent a military coup this evening. It's getting heavy coverage on all major news sources - see Google News. I won't repeat that here - this is my own small view of tonight's events:
In a taxi after a lovely evening in the Three Sixty Bar at Bangkok's Millennium Hilton, I got a text from my girlfriend Lindy. "There r tanks comin into BKK - they r speculating a coup!" My booze befuddled brain took a moment to take this in, wondering if it was a joke. Before I had a chance to reply, my girlfriend called. "It's all over CNN," she said. "Tanks have surrounded Government House. They've taken over a radio station. Can you come home?". I didn't need much persuading. I asked her to order me a pizza for delivery as I still hadn't eaten and asked the driver to take me straight back to my apartment.
Back home, it turned out no one was delivering food tonight. "Sorry, cannot deliver pizza now. Roads are being closed. Bangkok has a big..." - the pizza operator searched for the right word in English - "...big problem right now!" We sat glued to CNN - Dan Rivers was reporting direct from Bangkok, outside Government House. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had declared a State Of Emergency from New York, where he was attending the UN. The Thai Army claimed to have secured all of Bangkok, and taken control of television and radio stations. There was absolutely nothing on Google News when I first looked and it had been at least 20 minutes since CNN broke the news. A refresh of the page brought up a couple of sentences from Reuters but little else.
CNN was still on in the background, switching over to a live feed of Bush's address to the UN. I realised I'd better text my mum and dad, and let them know everything was OK. I started to get emails and texts from friends in Thailand and overseas - it was reassuring to hear from them for sure. Lindy texted her boss. "Should I go in to teach my early morning class tomorrow? It's my first coup - I don't know what to do!". I asked her not to go. We had no idea what might be happening at 7am when she normally left the house.
Suddenly CNN disappeared off the air. I scrolled through the other cable channels - Discovery and all the other were still there. The Thai channels were all playing The King's Song, showing exactly the same archive footage of the King.
So right now it's a one in the morning, and thankfully the internet is still working so I can read the BBC website. I'm worried that the net might get switched off here as well. Not at all sure what we're going to wake up to tomorrow. I don't feel in danger or even worried - it's a little surreal. I just hope we can keep getting information so we know what's going on. I so hope there is no violence and that the King can make an appeal for calm, as he is about the only unifying force for Thailand at the moment. But the fact there are tanks moving through the streets of Bangkok tonight doesn't bode well for the next few days.
Other Travelhappy posts of interest:
- Is Thailand Safe?
- Bangkok Guide: Get The Latest Info
- Cebu Pacific Visa Card Problems - A Couple Of Solutions
- Go Travelling In Thailand!
- YouTube banned in Thailand
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One Response to “Thai Military Coup In Bangkok: A Personal View”
Is Thailand Safe? · Thailand Backpacking: Travelhappy.info
September 21st, 2006
[...] It’s now Day 3 since the military coup happened in Bangkok. (See my previous post Thai Military Coup in Bangkok: A Personal View). At the time it was happening, things were a little bit uncertain - but the coup happened without a shot fired or any lawlessness at all. [...]