Here is Part One of the political situation going on here. Since I wrote this the other day, the court ruled the current government to dissolve so the PAD has stopped the protesting and the airports are preparing to reopen...see Part Two for the most current news...
We are living day to day as usual here even though, as we speak, things could take a turn for the worst at any moment. They are presently awaiting a verdict after hearing from the 3 political party leaders to judge whether or not there was corruption (ha! they're politicians! In THAILAND to make matters worse!) in the last elections. Waiting on pins and needles and praying there won't be violence. The court is not far from where we live, as is the domestic airport, Don Muong, the 2nd airport the PAD overtook last week and where the most recent bombing was at 15 minutes past midnight this morning. Although it's not far from where we live, it's far enough that we don't feel unsafe. Last report I read there are 300,000 people stranded here! Things are still simmering, they are trying to settle it all peacefully, it's so confusing and frustrating. Their culture is to be peaceful but this situation is about ready to cause a civil war...this would never even come close to happening in another country and it's because of the culture. They look the other way all the time because they don't want to confront, just want peace, that's why there is so much corruption and no one does anything about it. They just say "maipen lai" (no problem) or "TiT" (this is Thailand). A good example is when our bank in San Diego for some reason thought fraud was occuring since we were using our card here in Thailand (of course we told them many times before we left because we didn't want that to happen, but it still did!) and one day we were getting $$ out of the ATM and the machine ate our card! We had Mint phone the bank that the ATM was with and after we explained what happened they said they would hold the card and we could get it back the next week. We thought, yeah! Right! So we called our bank and worked everything out and asked them to reactivate our cards, they said, we can't they are already deactivated. We told them that they had to because we had no way of them sending us new cards, so we got our lawyer involved and they said they would do it but there was no way we would get our card back from the bank in Thailand. We said, "this is Thailand!" The people at our bank just figured they would humor us I guess but, sure enough, a few days later, we went to the main headquarters of the bank in Bangkok and they gave us the card back! Only in Thailand! Good thing we are legit! :)
Anyway, the people mean well, the majority of Thai people ARE peace loving people that will avoid conflict or violence at any cost. It is this naivety (I'm not sure that's the right word but it's as close as I can come) that has made this situation so difficult. Just like in any country, politics is corrupt and we have to choose the best of the worst, then you throw into the mix the royalists, the poor people and their LONG history of culture, it is a tough situation and I just pray they can find a peaceful solution. It certainly has been a lesson in patience for Jeff and I living here! Everyone is always telling us that things take time, be patient, don't move so fast! But we are Americans! How can it be that things aren't done quickly, efficiently, the RIGHT WAY! :) It's been tough and I'm not convinced either way is the best way, there is a lot to learn from both ways of life.
But, anyway, for the most part, the everyday people of Thailand are embarrased and apologetic over what is happening in politics. This has ruined their economy and it is going to take a long time to recover from this blemish on what they are very proud of, their country and their King. Speaking of which, the King's bday is this Friday, he will be 81. The people LOVE the King and I can't imagine anyone disgracing his bday so I would imagine this will be over by then. Hopefully I am right. The other extreme would be that the country erupts into civil war and we will have to hightail it out of here. It's not probable but Jeff and I certainly have thought about "what if" so we do have a plan just in case.
It's really life as usual here unless you are a protester or anywhere near the heart of where they are protesting. You know the media, always hyping everything up, out of control. But, I will give them this, there is a potential for something very bad to happen, and I would would shocked if it happened, but it is POSSILBE...
We had to cross the stream many times either over fallen trees like this one or on rocks.
The trees are very tall...
We have a long history of trips to Petchabun and hiking up here in the mountains. My very first trip to Asia was to Petchabun. A friend of ours that is from this area, runs one of her businesses here, and as of this year she has become an appointed Senator of Thailand. She has done so much for this province, she has written many books about women's health and eating organic foods, another business she has started is an organic foods store. We visited and bought organic brown rice, a mushroom based stock to put in soups, noodles, etc., macadamia nuts and tamarind. Petchabun is the capital of Tamarind. They have a statue of the Tamarind in the middle of town. Tamarind is a fruit kind of like a date or a prune. They make all kinds of things out of Tamarind in Thailand. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but I've grown to love it. Petchabun is a great province-it's clean, organized, the air is clean, it's all farming and open land and the city itself is small compared to Bangkok. Anyway, our friend is always promoting healthful programs for her employees like exercise classes on-site and this time when we were visiting all the employees were learning to make their own organic soaps and shampoos as most of the people there are poor and this can save them a lot of money for their families. OK, now I've realized that I am going to have to take a lot of time to talk about Petchaboon! I will continue tomorrow!
