Thailand 2014 Day 6b

Thailand 2014 Day7a

Thailand 2014 Day7b

Thailand Day 10b

Thailand Day

Photo taken from the bus - this is the outside wall of the Grand Palace/Wat compound. Notice the "tuk-tuk" - combination motorcycle/seating area. This is a very popular taxi found throughout Southeast Asia.

For the past few months there has been ongoing rioting against the Prime Minister, who wanted to get her brother, the former Prime Minister returned to the country (he was ousted on corruption charges.) and pardoned. The rioters decided, after having effectively interrupted commerce in Bangkok and other major cities, to stop harming their constituents (the small shop owners) and move their protests to a park which the city designated for their use. The park has a platform (like Hyde Park in London) for giving speeches. This government building still has the barbed wire which was placed there by the dissidents to prevent the government workers from going to work. Note the sandbags, barbed wire, screening that was erected. UPDATE- May 7 2014 -Prime Minister is ousted, facing impeachment. Read CNN report - Click Here

Once set up in the park, the parking lot became a huge flea market, since the protesters were living in the park and the sellers had a huge new source of customers. They have food stands, and T-shirt stands, all sorts of stuff the protesters or their supporters might need while visiting or living in the park.

Here is a closer view of the T-shirts from the previous shot. One protester had fired a gun at the army which was trying to keep the rioters in check (he was eventually captured.) He had a gun hidden in a bag of popcorn, so now they sell T-shirts labeled "Popcorn Army". Other slogans include RESTART THAILAND - they want to throw out the existing Prime Minister and Congressmen which they feel are corrupt. This sort of protesting has been going on for several years (since the ouster of the current PM's brother and her subsequent election to replace him).

More barbed wire outside of a post office. My question is...how the heck did they string up those razor sharp curved wires, each rolling out to about 3 ft in diameter, in a stack of wire coils 5 coils high without getting totally sliced up? Think about it....

That evening the group took a tour on the river on this boat. We were on the top floor, near the front part (just at the front edge of the covered area), and the band was about 15 ft in front of our tables. A beautiful scenic cruise. Unfortunately, I did not try to take photos of the view because we were moving rather swiftly and it was very dark, so I did not think I could get a decent shot.

This young lady was doing a traditional Thai dance while we ate dinner. They contort their hands in ways my hands will simply not bend! Very graceful looking, impossible to duplicate!

Then the band started playing old 60's rock and roll songs, and the young hostesses were pulling people up from their tables to join them in dance. It was a lot of fun. As we were finishing the tour, about 6 or 7 young hostesses all lined up in the aisle between the tables, dressed in their Thai garb, and did a line dance to Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky Heart" - which was simply wonderful!