My First Military Coup D'etat
Hello all, Phil here.
A few months ago, the company I work for was bought out by another US
company based in Colorado. It took a few
months, but they finally started to look at the Australian office and offered
me a different role supporting all of the Asia-Pacific region and overseeing
training and both companies product lines.
Since I am supporting the region, this means I get to travel a bit.
My first big trip was to Beijing for 2 weeks, and I’ll post
about that trip later… Next up was a
trip to Bangkok, Thailand to lead a training session with the Sales associates
from both the Australian and Japan offices.
In the weeks leading up to the trip, the Prime Minister stepped down and
sent Thailand into political turmoil. Two separate groups loyal to differing
political parties began fighting in the streets at different places in the
city. They are referred to as Red Shirts
and Yellow Shirts, as I assume that is their favorite color of attire.
As we began to book our flights, we started to receive travel
notices from the agency advising us that it was still ok to travel to Bangkok,
but to avoid any protest areas. We
diligently tried to reschedule the trip, but my new boss was not easily swayed.
I arrived in Bangkok with my co-worker Becc in tow and made
our way through customs and set out to find our driver to the hotel. He/she was nowhere to be found. There were a few drivers with signs milling
about, but nothing with our names. We
were at the far end of the terminal and I made my way down towards another of
the exits and found our driver. We were
whisked away in a BMW to the hotel. As
we are driving, I notice the absolutely huge advertising billboards. Quite the contrast from Australia where billboards
are rare.
After a nap and a shower, Becc and I set out for an
adventure. We walked out of the hotel and turned left, not knowing what was
even to the left. Our first priority was lunch, and were hoping to find some
food on our path. We walked past the Aussie and Malaysian embassies and ran into
a gentleman who claimed to be from the Malaysian embassy. He struck up a conversation with me and asked
where we were off to. After a brief
chat, he gave us some pointers and hailed a tuk tuk for us. So a tuk tuk is a motorcycle with a little
open air cabin on the back of it. The
gentleman instructed the driver on where to take us and told us that we
shouldn’t pay anything over 40 tbt. Our driver took us to the river where we
took a longboat through the canal system.
We were going through some pretty sketchy area, and more than once, both
Becc and I thought we were never going to make it back. But all was fine, and we saw some awesome
temples and reptiles. These large lizards were swimming in the canals and the locals
called them “crocs”. They were not
crocodiles, no ugly shoes.
We make it back to the pier and our driver is waiting for
us. By this time we are both really hungry. So we tell the driver to take us to
7-11 where we grab a coke and some water and then plan to head back to the
hotel and grab lunch. The driver asks if
he can take us to a tailor and if we sit through the presentation (think
timeshare presentation only shorter) then he gets some free petrol out of the
deal. Sure, why not. So we go in and have a seat and they bring
out some books for us to look at. I had
planned on my next trip to Singapore to have a suit made at a tailor there so I
was interested in how much this would cost.
After browsing through their book I selected a Hugo Boss style suit that
was a classic cut. We started to discuss
pricing and all told it was $700 for 2 suit jackets, 4 pairs of pants, 4
shirts, and 4 ties. Not bad for tailored
stuff. We agree and I sign my life away. This was on Sunday and they told be to come
back on Tuesday for a fitting.
We leave and go back to the hotel and finally get some
lunch. That night we meet our new boss
and another trainer for dinner on top of the 61st floor at the hotel
next door. It was spectacular. There were thunderstorms all around us, but we
managed to avoid all of them and enjoyed a great meal on top of Bangkok.
Meetings began the next day and that night the whole group
that was here for training was back up at the 61st floor having
drinks and somehow a few of us stayed and had dinner.
At 4:30pm on Tuesday the military took over all the TV
stations and broadcast a message that they were now in charge of security of
the country, but did not announce a coup at that point. The politicians were meeting and trying to
come to a resolution on who should run the country and the military was going
to see that process through.
After training, a few of us went to one of the big shopping
centers called MBK and had a look around.
We took a cab over and it cost about 35 tbt. We leave and somehow grabbed a few tuk tuks
to take us back to the hotel. As we
arrive I ask the young kid how much and he tells me 300. I laugh and offer him 40. This just pisses him off. You see, tuk tuks aren’t regulated and don’t
have a “meter” so the guy can charge whatever he wants. Thinks start to get a bit scary and I tell
him I’ll give him 150 or I call the police.
He finally accepts it and finally gets out of there.
Sometime during the day on Thursday the military dissolved
the constitution and announced a bloodless coup and instituted a curfew
beginning at 10pm to 5am. We were having dinner as a group at the hotel that
evening and they had to move our reservation up as the staff needed to be home
by 10pm. As dinner winds down, it is
about 9:30pm and my former boss and I head out to explore the streets and see
what was actually happening. In the 20 minutes we were out we noticed traffic
drastically reduce and a quiet fell over the city. We made it back in time before they locked
the gates.
Over the next couple of days, we got a first hand look at
just how powerful the media can be. All the tv stations had been taken off the
air, and 1 was playing nothing but the military channel showing soldiers
marching. People back home were hearing things on the news and seeing pictures
of fully armed soldiers. We never saw
any of this. You see, Thailand has had
11 (now 12) successful coups since the 1930’s.
The Thai people are used to it and just went about their day. If it hadn’t been for the curfew, we probably
wouldn’t have even noticed. It was very interesting to see what was being said
outside of the country compared to what was actually happening inside of
it. As long as we stayed away from
protest sites we were fine. The coup didn’t
keep us from venturing out.
Most of the people attending were flying back Friday
evening, but my boss and the other trainer were staying until Sunday and then
going to Tokyo to do some more training there.
I asked my boss if maybe we should fly to Tokyo on Friday or even
Saturday and he replied “We’ll stay here, it’s cheaper”. Oh well…
We head out for a nice dinner on Friday night at a
steakhouse in the J.W. Marriot and then walk over to Nana Square which is known
for its strip clubs and other sordid activities. However, with the curfew in place, all of the
places were shut down. I guess that is
one way to keep us out of trouble.
On Sunday we flew out to Tokyo, where the political
situation is a tad more stable.
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