No Changes in the Situation

The situation with the airport here is so far unchanged. The anti-government people are not backing down and it looks as if they will have to be forcibly removed. And Thai Airways, with whom I have tickets for the trip to and from Vietnam seems to have disappeared. So it looks as if I will be here for a while. So far it has been safe and business as usual in the city of Bangkok...only there are definitely less people on the streets. I hope when force is applied to re-open the airport that violence is kept to minimum, but I fear demonstrations may metastasize into the city. If it does, I feel very safe as my hotel is in a side street with some very plush aparment buildings with excellent private security. We'll know more soon.
The locals, at least those who deal with tourists, are very apologetic about what is happening. I have been constantly reminded of why I enjoy visiting...and it is the people here. They are lovely, polite, smiling and laughing at every encounter. The politicians are clowns.

Last nite we went to the Silom/Patpong area for dinner and then entertainment at a few bars....it was crazy as usual. Today I decided to visit Chinatown as I figured it would be safe because of the typical clout of the Chinese community throughout Asia. We took the Skytrain to the River and then the tourist boat to Chinatown. Walked for about 2 hours thru the narrow, packed streets and visited the Temple where the 5 ton Golden Buddha resides. Got back to the River and returned to the hotel.

Stay tuned.

The streets of Chinatown:
The Golden Buddha..... 5 tones of solid gold! :
School children messing around: