Sunday, March 14, 2010

Working on Red Shirt Day


First of all, there is an upside to things here when red shirt gathers. The traffic on roads this period is surprisingly pleasant. Everywhere I went I could reach speeds of 100, it is like Songkran period when most return to their province. Only this time, Bangkokians hide in their homes and avoid travel unless absolutely necessary. One advice however, don’t venture where the red shirts are. Gotta check with your friends where to avoid. It was reported that someone got hit in the head with a loudspeaker because he politely asked the red shirt convoy to give way. Another advice told by my mates, careful when talking to taxi drivers this period. They are all red shirts and the slightest wrong comment you utter, they will drive you in into the river.

Now, going into work site presented another problem. I was not allowed in for the fear of sabotage. I don’t speak like a true Thai, so the guard suspected I could be from some mountains in the red infested north, planning to put poison into the water treatment plant. Twenty minutes of clarifications before I was allowed in on this Sunday morning.

But all is good here and travelling is safe to a certain extent. Hazard hangs in the air ready to pounce on you, unlike in Singapore where everything is so contrastingly stable, clam and boring. I feed on chaos, I feed on uncertainty. Thailand and her mysterious amazing ways.