Bangkok: Oh Look! A Festival......

This past weekend I took a girls trip to Bangkok!  Two other expat friends were nice enough to let me tag along on their adventure.  We had a great time.  These ladies were much more experienced photographers than I so I will await their pictures before I post about the entire trip.  But... There were a few pictures they didn't get.

On Sunday, the third day we were in Bangkok, I decided to pass on the scheduled activities and have some down time since that is hard to come by these days (with homeschooling etc).

I attended church, had a fabulous lunch, and got a massage.  The plan was to meet up at 6pm for an evening bike tour of the city. 

I got back to back to my room at 4:30 and asked the hotel staff to write in Thai where I was supposed to go so I could show the taxi man.   They called the bike shop and confirmed that the bike ride was still on but said, "you need to leave now... it is pretty crowded down there."  I didn't think anything about it because everywhere in Bangkok is pretty crowded.

45 minutes later the taxi man started shooing me out of the taxi.  As far as I could tell I wasn't near my destination.  I asked him several times and he just said in his very broken English... "Can't drive."  Go this way... pointing in the direction he thought I should walk.  With apprehension I got out of the car.  I noticed a few men standing on top of some monster truck looking things waving flags.  Fun I thought, a street festival.

I started in the direction that the taxi man told me to walk.  There were tons of people that looked rather happy, some fun music, food, and lots of people doing foot massages.  The only thing that was a little weird was.....

There was a lot of red in every direction.  Everywhere I looked people were in red.  Oh.... this must be some sort of political thing I thought.....

There was a man on a loud speaker, lots of people waving heart shaped clappers, men selling balloons, all sorts of Thai snack food and lots of people getting foot massages.  It seemed rather friendly occasion.  I decided it would be fun to take pictures so I whipped out my camera.....of course.  I started to get a few stares... I was the only foreigner around (which is highly unusual for Bangkok) and I was taking pictures. 

I saw this guy and realized that it must be a political rally.  All of the shirts they were selling had a picture of a lady on them... Must be a political rally.   Still unaware of what the purpose of the rally was until I came upon this guy.......

Scrolled out in front of this guy was a banner about 1/2 of a football field in length and 2 ft wide of gruesome pictures of people who had been savagely beaten.  The air got sucked out of my chest.  After I snapped a picture of this guy I looked a little closer and realized that the feet hanging below him looked a little to real.

As with any situation (at least that I am in) where I am in shock it takes me a few minutes to realize what is going on.... I took a few more pictures....

And then the crowd started to get a little louder... the chants started becoming a little more infused with an angry feeling... I could not understand anything.

I wandered the crowd feeling a little worried that I was totally lost and I couldn't find my friends.....

 I rationalized in my head that I was still safe because all of these nice people where selling food and little old ladies were enjoying the festivities......

Thai Seafood Jerky anyone? 

But I was still horribly lost.  I finally asked a police man where I needed to go.... He said, "see that tank over there with the water hose......turn right and go down that street."  It was at this precise moment that I realized.... "I am in Thailand.  Things don't always turn out so well here.  I may be in danger."  I followed his directions and started to feel a little panic in my heart.

I walked down this back alley that brought me right into the HEART of the rally!  Egads.  It was at this point that I noticed the M-16's and hundreds of military officers standing around.... I ran and decided to ditch the effort to find my friends.

I ran but decided to snap this picture as I went towards freedom because it showed that the rally was an odd mix of little old ladies seeming very happy and lots of gore all in........ red.

I paid and enormous sum for my tuk tuk ride (200 baht for a ride that should have been 40 baht) because I couldn't find a taxi and this guy probably sensed my fear and knew he could charge me that. 

Finally made it back to the room and to my girlfriends.  They told me how scared they were because they had some context.  Apparently the last time they tried to come to Bangkok their trip was cancelled because the Red Shirts were protesting and the government had stopped everyone from coming in or out of Bangkok. 

After coming home M and I  looked up online and figured out that the Red Shirts  represent the United Front for Democracy and have not always been a peaceful bunch to put it nicely.  Sunday they were marking the 2006 coup anniversary that toppled their hero Thaksin Shinawatra.

History lesson learned in real time.....