State of Emergency

It's that time of year again: Songkran (Thai New Year) is approaching and the Thai government has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding provinces (as from 7 April), a situation similar to last year (we were traveling abroad), when the so-called "red shirts" staged anti-government protests which turned into riots. This year, the red shirts are again staging massive anti-government protests. Readers of this blog will also remember the "yellow shirt" protests in 2008, when the airports in Bangkok were closed. The yellow shirts brought down the government at the time and now the red shirts are trying to do the same with the current government. It would take too long to explain in detail what the both parties want, you can read all about it on different news sites. It suffices to say that the red shirts have occupied a major intersection in the commercial heart of Bangkok (Ratchaprasong), where massive shopping malls such as CentralWorld are located, as well as several big hotels (Hyatt, Four Seasons, Intercontinental,...). Many of them have closed down now. Tom's office is right next to the protests, offering interesting views on troop movements and red shirts selling souvenirs in the street. Attached some pictures to give an idea, you can again find more pictures on news sites. We also attach some recent pictures of Wolfgang who has his own opinion of the political turmoil :-). We are all fine by the way.