Bangkok - City of the Angels in turmoil - Liebe zur Erde... - Liebe zur Erde

Bangkok - City of the Angels in turmoil

Part 1: city in turmoil
Part 2: unintended stroll in the protest camp
Part 3: Candle Light Ceremony for the Kings birthday


Irony of fate? On the evening when I arrive in Bangkok after 16 hours of bus ride, a state of emergency for Bangkok comes in place by the government - because of escalating unrests. Well, I just escaped the party and sex tourists crowd, and now again my nose is dipped into the next social problem - gradually I begin to wonder.

So now, what?

The recommendation is, to stay away from crowds , because violence in Thailand can also very directly escalate. So I initially take a hotel in the north from the center, in a nice and quiet Thai neighborhood without to much tourist traffic. From here, I explore the city along the route which is promised to be the calmest: by boat. My first trip leads me to look for simcards - and obviously I have to go to the city center, to the largest and most expensive department store in Bangkok: Siam Paragon . There I am flabbergasted to find out that in all the surrounding shops prepaid cards are sold out!? Do the demonstrators have themselves since equipped with additional "Buziness Phone Numbers"?




The athmosphere on that Tuesday afternoon is a foreboding of doom, ominous and gloomy, and I try to take it in to me for a while. Without having any idea of the political situation, I get the impression that there is a play with the fire here for personal purposes, with the fuse that is provided by the protest of the people. How bitter . Over the week, the impression gets confirmed .





So I try fundamentally during the week to go out of the protesters way and get a feel for the city and people .

The city, formerly called "Venice of the East" because of the many channels, has fundamentally changed. The famous floating markets - disappeared. Many of Channels: filled in to make space for roads . Bangkok has modernized itself for the price that much of the old charm is buried in the past: it is a clean, organized and very modern metropolis itself - with plenty of traffic jams.

Only the people are an unchanged source of wonder to me and Bangkok proves to be the most pleasant Asian metropolis at all, in matters of travel concerns: first place, there is no specific tourist harassment , no special tourist begging, no mess, no scam, no thievery - mostly honest traders to which I pay the same as a local - where did I see the last? But the more amazing and crucial thing is: these people have a mental friendliness and beauty that I have never seen before . An encounter is then "complete" when both have been found each other mentally in a kind of harmony (or another feeling depending on the situation) and settled in that feeling, an element that we know in Europe only as a rare highlights with friends. Here we find that at each kiosk: IF the Westerners can perceive what is going on and can react accordingly. A phenomenon, and what a culture! No wonder these people are so beautiful!



Another highlight is found in the vicinity of the Royal Palace and so close to the violent riots towards the weekend:

The golden reclining Buddha:



his expression is one of the most beautiful things I've seen in Asia so far: awake, mellow and full of peace, he looks into the distance to what may come next. And I would hope that the protesters and their leaders would even occasionally come here to find peace ...

so I can only hope that the Thai people remember and reflect on the size of their culture for this moment of political unrest. Buddhism provides any chance to see the country's problems in a different light, to think also about the future karma of ones doings and to relativize personal interests.




View from the bar of the State Tower, 65th floor


The next two days now, the country and the city are supposed to get some rest and become a place of celebration: the country is preparing for the birthday of the beloved and respected king, who gets 86. What happenes afterwards, is completely open.



Part 2: Impressions of the protest movement
(this translation is may be not free of mistakes. If it creates misunderstandings, pl come back to me through the contact page on the website)


Yes, it was a ceasefire agreed for wednesday and thrusday because of birthday preparations. So I 'm running to see the attractions that were not accessible because of the disputes. And promptly I run into the activist groups - or their blocked road with propaganda equipment. But first things first:

First, it's already happened to me yesterday that I ran into an angry whistling crowd that had gathered in the middle of the most nobel shopping area in front of the Central World on the road ( ie the place where actually everything should be safe ) - and they gather together in no time:




the occasion for the people seems to be on the opposite side of the road where singing policemen lined up in the police complex. Maybe they practice for the birthday of the king, who knows. And who looks at the picture in more detail, can see: these are middleclass people with money. The international press calls these people protesting group the " spoiled Bangkok Thai elite who do not want to lose their privileges."

Now Demonstrations are to me already somewhat familiar due to the mostly civilized protests against Stuttgart21 in Germany. Here, however, surprises me the hatred, the aggression of these "normal" people of Thailand's middle class (well, you can´t hear that in the picture) - And I'm glad to swiftly run away from the line of acoustical clash.





So today, I 'm so at Stroll, with the firm intention to stay away from all problems. And that came out it:

My real goal, the Marble Temple, is located in the government district right behind the seat of government. There, everything is full of police cars, army vehicles, and otherwise the area seems dead - except for the cleanup troups. The area of the Ananta Samakhom Palace (pictured below) gives a contested, tattered impression, while the building itself looks like dead (...?) - very strange.





On the way back from the temple, I find myself back in front of the headquarters of the Royal Thai Army Guard and the Royal Thai Government House Office. At the same time leaves a convoy of sure 20 trucks and buses of army vehicles (and defaced license plates) the Headquarters and let soldiers get in and out in front of the Government House.






Everywhere are people with increased vigilance, which also can´t  be teared from their attitude by my curiosity: obviously they find something not very funny . On Twitter I learn then that a whole group of protesters again today tried to storm the building - and where just admitted to avoid further clashes until they did leave again .

In the next side street corner are still several hundred men to see and a truck with loudspeakers from which are echoes down slogans:





Just a little further I run into a blocked road: Tents are constructed here with supply of food, medicines and obviously there's also a PC central inteligence. What I discover on a closer look:






Since I can´t decide on the question of whether I can just go through here, I am directed to an English-speaking man. His saying is: Yes, that is right, here the protesters are gathering , and they are active every day . A bit queasy I feel here, even though everything seems calm. I need a while to realize what I see :


There are a number of well-dressed Manager sort of types and ringleaders who plan in conversations the next moves for the protesters, but do not speak English (!). Then there are the ordinary people, mostly women, which supply the camp with all that is needed. That in turn are not people of the middle class, never ever. Someone pays for them being here - because these are people who have to work for their livelihood.



What  more: barriers, party tents, rostrum, speakers, electrical power, cabling, equipment such as medicine and food - where does the money for it come from? Who organizes and directs it? And then they block a whole huge main traffic road ... they block an entire area that way.




But that's not all: every few minutes a small group of young men strolles by and by, they come from the side street further back, where the activists have heard the slogans. And I stop short: what kind of are these men? Some of the young people are in a level of self-assertion intoxication, where the control center of the brains is temporarily paralyzed by hormones. Young men are clothed like city Indians: with shredded jeans and other outfit which characterizes them as fashion-conscious rebels of the middle class. Some junkies, yobs. The whole spectrum of tweens and men who get clamped for and are possessed by political beliefs which they don´t look through, without knowing themselves for what they are really on the road here. Last but not least, I would not be surprised if there are still a couple of bodyguards which take part in the fight.... - Oh children, I do not like that!


I ask my respondent, who complaints so much about the corruption of the current PM, about these Suthep: whether he trust him to be better than the others. His answer startled me, though I don´t know at first why: "This is my leader: he has embraced my chief in the morning, just shortly he was still here around - he cares about us."

I got out of the conversation the frightening feeling that here is a demagogue at work, who knows how he can win people over. And someone with backers who have the money and equipment to channel the anger of the popular uprising of the people.


In the evening in the city I have to observe of a few things more : Meeting in Bangkok tourists have made a joint attack on the Royal sites today because they are these 2 days risk free available: the city is full of them. And the roads are congested as never in the week before - obviously more people trust their selves out of the houses. Last but not least, I now see young men who were so not seen in the previous week: they all still bear the traces, psychological injuries and the adrenaline rush of the struggles of the past few days with them: strange young people. Definitely not the educated class, but junkies, the neglected, full of aggression. Men in their 20th. They are Thais, no doubt. But these are not the poor, government-related groups - these are here fallen through the cracks of society and social systems: those who have nothing to lose, certainly with hatred of the political regime. Strange young people, which does not quite fit into the city, as I have experienced the city the past few days. But precisely: because they were obviously involved in other places and turmoil.


And what the freshly filled sandbags are good for, nobody in the mainstreem press will tell you- or do they protect against tear gas?






Part 3: Candle Light Ceremony for the Kings birthday

On the kings birthday the truce is stable and millions celebrate on the streets. On the whole, however, there are rarely children to be seen on the roads around the candle light ceremony and in some places like close to democracy monument make a tense impression.

Here I include an amazing video from the candlelight ceremony at Sanam Luang, where the Thai sing for their King. I hope for this country that they keep in mind the greatness of their culture and religion to find a peaceful way for the issues: