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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tWCpsuZ1WI]
While day-to-day life for us continues on rather normally, the situation peaked yesterday with the torching and looting of Central, the second largest mall in Asia.

The fire fighters were apparently prevented from entering the area and the entire huge mall burned to the ground creating a large column of black smoke from yesterday afternoon until well into this morning.

Joss has been taking timed photos from the balcony, which he made into two videos.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyDM5pUcEp8]

There’s been more than one column of smoke in the city. The leaders of the red shirt movement have either turned themselves in or fled, leaving the 5,000+ protesters without leadership or direction. There were estimated 80 factions of protesters spreading through Bangkok – businesses associated with wealthy corrupt Thais were targeted for destruction and looting.

Consequently there was a curfew established last night for 8 pm. Sue and Joss were out in the company truck around 6 pm, registering at a nearby hospital in the event we cannot reach the hospital of their choice and picking up dinner. They said the streets were already deserted and most restaurants were closed.

The curfew has been extended through Saturday night from 9 pm to 5 am. The BTS has been closed for five days now.

Today, the street vendors, the shoe repair guy, the tailor, are still out on the streets, working normally. The fancy grocery store is open – crowded with folks stockpiling supplies.

We went to Noi naa’s playgroup this morning, just a block or two away and then did some shopping. The fruit lady cautioned us not to go anywhere as it’s still dangerous. The mood was relaxed and there were people everywhere – but maybe not as many as usual.

We take this to mean that the testosterone-pumped frustrated protesters are all still about, but that it’s mostly about clean up now. Businesses are being slammed and impacted in all ways. We stopped for a coffee, but couldn’t get sandwiches as no bread had been delivered today. The maid has shown up every day, but every other storefront on the street has its shutters drawn.

The Thai conflict for dummies (explained by somebody who barely understands what’s going on – that’s me):
The red shirts are mostly poor farmers from the NE – they support Taksin, the democratically-elected president who was overthrown two years ago for being terribly corrupt. They wanted the current government to step down and to move up the democratic elections. Bottomline – they want a better life and don’t feel their needs are represented in government.
The yellow shirts are mostly wealthy, educated city-folk. They organized the coup in 2008 to get rid of Taksin. Bottomline – they feel they gave the poor a chance at a democratic election and are disgusted that somebody as corrupt as Taksin was voted into power.

Noi naa goes by Minnie. Her best friend TJ is Mickey and his mother is Alice. Sue is “crdible” for “incredible.” Can you tell that Noi naa been to see Disney on Ice?

The evenings are nice and we’re trying to get out at least for a stroll down the soi when the sun goes down. Last night we even made it to the park around the corner.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE3XaZW0mzo]

Every other day or so, I hear a strange incantation over a loudspeaker go down the soi. At first I thought it might be some kind of political promo, but it turns out that “myquat” means “broom” and it’s simply the broom man passing by.

I’ve wanted to stop him and buy brooms for years.
Today he happened to be stopped and resting in front of Sue’s apartment building.
I bought two small brooms (I like the fan-style whisk) and one small feather duster. The feather duster is made of chicken feathers (!!) and he makes them himself in the evenings.
Each item was 55B, so about $1.50.
The other guy I’ve always wanted to stop is the cutting board man. But his slices of tree trunks might make for unreasonable packing.

and two picture vids, made by my bro-in-law:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMsGx72Z2LM]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPcZUSq3L5A]
See, we really are mostly staying at home and out of trouble.

We all went out for a brief tiyao (walk) this morning to replenish our supply of fruits and vegetables.
The BTS (sky train, the Bkk version of a subway) has been closed for three days due to protesting by the yellow shirts.
We’ve all been advised to stay close to home – Sue will probably not go to work tomorrow, the loaned work vehicle not withstanding.
But still, life in this neighborhood goes on: the stalls are lined up selling fruit and roasted baby octopus and the ice cream man makes his way up every soi, hitting each construction site.
We hailed him (he was on foot), so that I could try what Sue calls an “old-fashioned” ice cream sandwich. The sandwich bit is taken quite literally, and my coconut ice cream (only one flavor) was served on a fresh baked roll!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98YxdPnqo6s]

I made it to Chattachuk market yesterday, a weekend market famous for having over three miles of wall-to-wall vendor stalls – not to mention the overflow stalls along the sidewalk, outside Chattachuk.

It’s just two BTS stations down from us, and away from any protests. I left Christian at home (he’s become very attached to Sue, Joss, and Noi naa – they took him for a quick bike ride, played “surfing” in the pool, and fed him lunch) and ventured out with a friend of Sue’s, who happens to go to Chattuchuk nearly every weekend. That would be me if I lived here. Despite the heat and crowds, I LOVE THIS PLACE.

The sheer massiveness and density of local commerce makes for a fascinating reflection of current Western trends and fashions. This time I noticed that flannel shirts (with the sleeves rolled up to the bicep) are a hot item, along with blue jean shorts.

I really appreciated experiencing Chattachuk from a local perspective. First, we went directly to her favorite fried chicken joint, Jeed-Jeer, to beat the lunch crowd. Fried chicken is misleading though, because most of the meal is raw! There is a about the amount of one fried chicken breast, chopped, and served on top of a grated green mango salad, with greens, all drenched in a tangy tart vinigrette. We had that with som tum, another grated salad, but papaya not mango, plus sticky rice, and a coke for each of us.

From there we wandered the stalls, while I did enough shopping of teak wood items to last me the month.

Which brought us to her favorite coconut ice cream vendor: each scoop of homemade coconut sorbet was served on grated coconut meat in the coconut shell half. You got two toppings (choice of a variety of sliced fruits or red bean and peanuts), all for 25B (about 75 cents). The sweetest thing about this vendor was that they’d created a jungle oasis for themselves, by planting orchids and other hanging bromeliads in an arch around the shop front. Everything was continuously misted, green and lush.

That gave us more energy for shopping.

We brought us finally to her favorite fresh orange juice vendor. We got three large bottles (50B each) each to bring home, and a little juice (15B) to drink on the spot. She likes this place, not only because the juice is always supersweet, but because they give you money back for returning the glass bottles.

Boy, it was hot. Besides the orange juice, I had had a coffee, a coke, and my 16-oz water, and still hadn’t needed to pee!

The word is that there have been 16 deaths associated with the political upheaval here in Bangkok.

I want to assure everybody that Christian and I feel very safe. The protesters are demonstrating in very specific areas, many of which have been cordoned off or even completely closed down. I have not seen even one “red shirt”. [I had originally posted “yellow shirt,” which was a mistake. The yellow shirts were the ones who planned the coup several years ago that ousted the red shirt favorite, Taksin.]

It may seem bizarre, but life here in the Aree neighborhood proceeds as per usual.

P.S. Although, yesterday we saw billowing black smoke in the late afternoon. We saw on the news that the protesters were burning (and rolling) tires into the live shooting zone. Disconcerting. Joss went out and brought dinner home instead of us all going out to eat.
We’re going out just on the soi today to buy fresh fruit.