Bangkok day 1+ x

The truth about the protests here in Bangkok:

While an ongoing and serious issue for the People's Alliance for Democracy (yellow) and the government they're opposing (red), the strife does not extend beyond the groups included. It'd be like living in Red Hook, and being told there was a "riot" on the uws, or being in Santa Monica and hearing of "protests" at Staples Center or the Rose Bowl. I mean yea, it's escalated, but from barely nothing to a blip on the radar. Plus, it's the people against the gov't, so nobody is targeted in particular, but more symbols of the government in place (unless you're one of the unlucky fellows put in place to subdue the protestors).

Don't believe me? These are a few of my favorite local media comments on the protest(er)s: "traffic nuisance", "Christmas carolers", "never-ending saga", "futile [...] drain on society" and, "political melodrama." The protesters, who are unhappy with the current PM, who is laterally related to the last ousted one (but they chose yellow for their color? Confusing because it's the color for the royalty around here, there are yellow flags all over the place because the King's birthday is coming up in the first week of December. Perhaps intentional politically, or maybe they're trying to boost their numbers?), are publicly insulting the gov't, with doozies like "monitor lizards." Apparently just the absolute worst, as far as Thai insults go. I gather it's akin to a slap in the face with a glove. SIRISAIDGOODDAY!

My favorite so far is the quote from a protest leader, who lays out his plan. "First, we will not let the cabinet use [Don Muang Airport] for their meetings anymore. Second, wherever they go for their meetings, we have our special troops that will follow them there." And then, once they get there, who knows? Maybe more insults. Maybe not. It's just too hard to tell, really.

So here I am for another few days. It's not so bad, I get to hang out and talk to some more travelers about places I want to go, in exchange for made up stories about places they want to go. The airports are closed down, so the hostel is getting crowded, i.e. more people to have fun with. I hope things are resolved by Friday, because that's when my flight is. I'm off to Bali at the end of the week (Protests allowing), where I will be through the end of the calendar year. From there I can visit Lombok, possibly Australia too... kinda just seeing where the wind takes me. As always, I'm open to any and all suggestions, those received thus far have been extremely helpful, so many thanks. And watch out for those monitor lizards, they might be able to travel through the series of tubes that make up the internets. I know that's old, but I just don't want to let that one die. That, and I'm like your (my) senile grandma: out of touch and eager to be in on the news.