What's Going On Here?

If you're following the Thai or international news, you probably know there is some drama going on in Bangkok. Here's the story from my perspective. On Tuesday night last week I said goodbye to Robin and Adam as I put them in a cab on their way to the Chiang Mai airport. They had a short flight to Bangkok and then Robin's flight to the US was scheduled for 1am and Adam's for 6am. Adam got his mom on the plane and called me in the middle of the night saying she's on her way and jokingly saying he was going to head to the beaches instead. I told him to have a good flight home and call me when he's back. The next morning I had a strange feeling and called his cell phone, knowing that if the phone was off he was on his way, but he answered. "My flight is delayed until 7pm tonight," he said. I sympathized with him because I had been stuck in the Bangkok airport for 12 hours before. He explained what was going on in the airport and nothing really sunk in until I started reading the news. The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) had taken over the airport. The PAD people are protesting the Prime Minister (this is different from the beloved King, mind you). There was no resistance and the airport was literally shut down. Robin's flight was the last one out, and technically took off when the airport was closed. So Adam spent the day in Bangkok and took a bus back to Chiang Mai that night. Although the news states that four bombs went off in the airport, Adam didn't hear a thing. He said the PAD people were actually quite helpful in guiding the tourists to better waiting areas in the airport, bringing them water and sandwiches. The airport is still closed now (almost a week later) and there is no foreseeing when it will be open again. There is more than enough information out there in news articles, etc. But if it weren't for Adam's story and the media, there would be absolutely no way to tell what is going on. It's very peaceful in the north and the biggest concern for people in Chiang Mai is the hit the tourist industry will take. We'll see what happens over the next week. There were fighter jets flying over Chiang Mai... there was a coup a couple years ago... definitely an interesting time to be in Thailand.