Friday 23 May 2014

The current coup in Thailand

As you may know by now, since yesterday around 5pm, the coup is official in Thailand. This being my second coup since I'm in Thailand, the last one dating back to 2006, I feel almost like an 'old hand'. The charter has been suspended after this bloodless coup.

So far there has been a curfew between 10pm and 5am for the whole country, which not surprisingly has not been controlled too hard. From today until 25th may, all schools country wide have been shut down, which made our kids happy. 

The coup in Bangkok

The coup in Bangkok, plenty of selfies with soldiers and Thai girls and tourists who want their pictures to be taken with soldiers

Downside for the kids and many Thais is that the TV channels have been take offline, see below for a screen shot. Even the cable channels have been blocked. It looks like this coup has been better planned than the 2006 one.

Major shopping malls like Central all over the country closed at 8pm and all 7-11's, Family Mart and similar outlets have closed down between 10pm and 5am. An almost unbelievable sight here in Thailand.

TV since yesterday

TV since yesterday

Other than that, life continues as normal, all bars seemed to have stayed open last night around Samui.

In Bangkok all major protest sites have supposedly been dispersed and Suthep and many other yellow shirt leaders have been obtained by the army and the Shinawatra clan and Chalerm Yubamrung have been summoned by the army. There's speculation that Yingluck has left the country. 

There are rumors floating around that internet may be shut down, let's cross our fingers that it won;t get that far.

So far so good and in my opinion there's no reason not to come to Thailand, everything is 'business as usual' and my first impression is that a potential civil war has been avoided but the big question is now; how to proceed?

Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!

Camille

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Camille !! i believe you live in samui .iwould like to know the current situation in koh samui after the curfews ? how is it goin there ? bad ? hope to hear from you soon

Regards ,
Shantini

Camille said...

Hi Shantini,

It will be no problem at all to visit Samui at all. The curfew has already been changed and has been shortened and on Samui things are easy going.
There are no demonstrations on Samui either, so no possibility to get into too many problems here, related to the coup.
My advice is to come, relax and enjoy the island as you would during anytime.