Thailand...WTF?

[victor]

My daughter (22) is on holiday in Thailand at present. She has been in Bangkok, up north and now out on one of the Islands. As you might expect we are concerned but in contact daily. She reports no real issues. Bangkok was a little tense in some areas, up north the tourists were really unafected except that everything shut down early, just made it all the easier to start earlier in the morning. Apparently moon parties will be shutdown by the curfew but other activities continue as normal.
Would I go tomorrow, yes but not to Bangkok but that would be true irrelevent of the coup.

 

[Sol]

FWIW, I work on the news desk at a daily newspaper, and every day we update the Thailand story with new video, image galleries, etc., and ... not a hell of a lot of traffic. Frustrating as hell. Large country, one of SE Asia's biggest economies, important tourist destination, and ... readers just don't click on it.

Diving there is on my bucket list. Limbo, hope everything's OK there.

 

[limbo]

Everything is just fine. It just cracks me up, some of the comments here. All tourist destinations are just fine and talk is about ending the curfew in tourist destinations, including Phuket, Pattaya and Samui.

As somebody else pointed out that I may be afraid of my business being hurt, maybe check out where I work, not only in Thailand.

It's my second coup in Thailand and in the tourist destinations it's business as usual.

Me getting out of bed with the wrong foot, that's funny. Maybe this thread is good after all so some people can wake up and smell some Thai coffee!

BTW, all readers from the US in this thread, I happen to have a car by the brand of Ford, now I just found out that those are made in the US. I have some rust on one of my doors, can you please bring me an anti-rust can of spray next time you visit Thailand. In the meantime I will stop reading books, well, maybe

 

[lord khram]

There has been political turmoil in Thailand for years, particularly since the last coup in 2006. Whilst all this has been going on, business as usual in the tourist resorts, with the exception at times of Central Bangkok, where there have been differing rallies / protests, some of which turned violent, but were easily avoided.
I dare say Thailand as a whole is safer for tourists, post coup, now the military have removed the said protesters from various locations in Bangkok, and sent them packing back to their own provinces.
If you have travel plans to Thailand, don't let the media spoil them for you. Having said that it would be advisable to keep up to date with any relevant government advice that may be released, as this could affect such things as your travel insurance if they advise against travel, and you chose to ignore it. But I don't expect or see the necessity for any government to give such advice.

---------- Post added June 2nd, 2014 at 06:25 PM ----------

Apparently moon parties will be shutdown by the curfew

Just go's to show there is a positive side to everything!!

 

[Wingy]

I have NO commercial interest in thai business so all I can say is the folk posting the facts from thailand who do have business interests are well aware of what the actual situation is and arent filling up a thread with BS to protect their businesses. I was in thailand in 2006 and 2010 when the red shirts had a bit of an uprising and found the thai people extremely helpful - they do not want anyone caught up in the political situation. I agree with Khram - I felt safer in thailand during these times than any other..and ive been there a few times. The only thing that anyone should be aware of is to stay out of the usual provinces like Songkhla where you may encounter a little trouble...but thats year round anyway so no dramas......oh and there was a half moon party on the second night of the coup :cool2:...not a cop or soldier in sight. The Aus govt has issued an alert but not a do not travel - that is in place for southern provinces like Songkhla but has been for a few years.

 

[drbill]

Personally, I think it is very relevant to post here on ScubaBoard about a POTENTIAL travel issue. Those from the country in question (a place I've enjoyed diving in the past) should understand that concern by others may be affected by the sensationalist news we are fed. Most of the replies have been informative and are appreciated.

I was traveling through Greece during the coup there in the late 1960s. Of course in that case there were bombs going off in public squares and there was a real threat in Athens... but not so out on the islands where I spent most of my time.

 

[cb5150]

You might want to cut Limbo some slack as I am sure it is very stressful having your country in the midst of such political upheaval and turmoil. Count yourself very lucky that you live in the U.S. where we may have a contentious political system, but have not had to deal with a coup as are the people in Thailand. I doubt they are having a lot of fun right now. Also, FWIW, IMHO, being oblivious to what is going on in the world in which you live and dive is not a virtue. And no, I did not get up on the wrong side of the bed either.

According to Limbo, Wingy and others, the issues don't seem to be affecting tourism or diving much. Thats a good thing and good information for those considering a dive trip to Thailand.

I guess your lecture to me about the country being in the "midst of such political upheaval and turmoil" kinda missed it's mark.

Wanna call it a draw? I'll return to my non-virtuous lifestyle and you can return to your lecture circuit.

Those of you who reside, vacation or work in Thailand...Here's wishing you remain mostly unaffected by whatever nonsense may or may not be happening with your government.

(PS: If I'm reading a book on the Kindle app on my iPhone in public, does that count as a no-no? LOL!)

 

[lord khram]

According to Limbo, Wingy and others, the issues don't seem to be affecting tourism or diving much. Thats a good thing and good information for those considering a dive trip to Thailand.

I guess your lecture to me about the country being in the "midst of such political upheaval and turmoil" kinda missed it's mark.

Wanna call it a draw? I'll return to my non-virtuous lifestyle and you can return to your lecture circuit.

Those of you who reside, vacation or work in Thailand...Here's wishing you remain mostly unaffected by whatever nonsense may or may not be happening with your government.

(PS: If I'm reading a book on the Kindle app on my iPhone in public, does that count as a no-no? LOL!)

The only thing that could potentially affect tourists is the midnight closure of some entertainment venues due to the curfew, but even this is now widely ignored by businesses. I hear lots of complaints among the expat population around here, that some bars were closing at 10:00pm (now midnight). I think the majority should be able to survive without beer between midnight and 4:00am, expats and tourists alike. I cant see any potential effect any of this could have on diving. Personally I am of the opinion, certainly around Pattaya it would be much better to maintain these hours, not so many years ago everything used to close around midnight - 02.00am and the introduction of all night drinking / entertainment seemed to coincide with an upsurge in crime against tourists.
I also note that a number of governments around the world (eg. Predominantly the US and some in Europe) have condemned the actions of the Thai Military, but the coup came a few days after martial law was imposed, because the two opposing factions were unwilling to talk / compromise, and was seemingly done to hopefully stabilise the situation and put an end to the constant disruption in Bangkok, prior to having new elections. The coup has actually been welcomed by the vast majority of Thai's of all political persuasions, and many I have spoken to are annoyed at foreign governments vocal interference, in a situation that they appear to understand little about.
.

 

[daz88]

I chat online daily, as well as phone calls through the week with friends throughout Thailand. And with all of them..."everything is normal except for the curfew." And most are happy about not having to listen to the bull**** with the arguing government. I have several trips to Thai planned for later this year and wouldn't think of changing them just for this. It's mostly a non-issue.(unless I want to stay out late partying with friends) I very rarely spend much time in Bangkok, so doubt I will even see anything effected by this coup. I was in Thai several times during all the political protesting and never saw anything, didn't even know it was going on. Like always the so-called news loves to hype things up and try and make them worse than they are.

 

[Goodtime Adventures]

As a few others have mentioned, political disturbances are not new to those living/working in Thailand. In fact its a fairly regular occurrence. Some are just publicised more than others.

In terms of the current situation, tourism destinations - especially the more remote areas and islands further away from the capital - remain largely unaffected. In fact we have seen a seen surge in business since the coup happened - most probably for the exact reason that we are further removed from the 'action' and the curfu rules are not really enforced here. Looking at customer volume at dive shops, restaurants and bars etc, you'd never even know there was anything unusual going on. If anything it looks like high season has come early!

For those who don't really know or understand what is going on, I was sent this little gem of an explanation on a social media site last week, which sums up the Thai political situation - and indeed all 12 previous coups since 1932 - pretty accurately:

Hope this helps!