Current situation in Bangkok
 

Hi,

Was hoping to get some advice about the current safety situation in Bangkok?

Contemplating a trip there, staying by the river but venturing into town to go to the markets (partic. Weekend), Jim Thompson house etc. Is it safe to wander around downtown now? What about the temple areas? Is the sky train line through downtown running normally? Or should we just skip BKK and go somewhere else in Thailand (Chiang mai or the beaches or suggestions?).

Any advice would be welcomed.

Thanks,

GLP

There is nothing to disturb your holiday, happening in Bangkok.

Things have long been back to normal in Bangkok. Go and enjoy!

If you are staying by the river, use the public water taxis to get to some of the major temples: Emerald Buddha/Grand Palace complex, Wat Po, Wat Arun.

there never was a real problem, so go and enjoy

Wait, Bob. The riots and deaths this spring were nothing? I don't think so.

But as we've all said, go and enjoy.

There were, are, and will continue to be serious "problems" in Thailand. Fortunately, these rarely affect tourists. Even during the confrontation, with very rare exceptions, those affected were there by choice.

The curfew did put a damper on many holiday makers!

There were a couple of Redshirt demos recently (to mark the anniversary of the coup) - all peaceful.

Whatever you think of the Redshirts and their allies, their actions arise out of a raft of legitimate grievances. These have yet to be addressed.

The govt and the army are currently engaged in a fairly surreptitious clampdown.

Technically Bkk is still under a state of emergency. (as are some other provinces). "The state of emergency bans political gatherings of more than five people and gives the government powers to impose curfew and censor media and detain suspects without charge for 30 days."

Small bombs have been detonated here and there - by who and why is not clear - they are equally likely to be organised crime related - but that is linked to politics here anyway!

BUT - at the end of the day you would b VERY unlucky to find your holiday affected by this in any way - sort of a traffic-jam in Bkk.

As we get closer to an election (no date yet) one might expect tensions to rise so check on your Foreign office web site for details.
Under some circumstances you may find your travel insurance is VOID or does not cover you for certain eventualities.

Even in the most severe circumstances in the last few years it has been questionable whether cancellation was advisable - embassies tend to err on the side of caution.

so I guess it does no harm to read up on Thai politics but you'll find that your vacation is very unlikely to be affected

the events this spring were just thai celebrations of life, or in some cases death...

If you wish to visit Thailand, I would suggest you do it sooner, than later.

Thanks for the info folks. BK is now firmly on our list we just needed a little push. Can't wait to go back!!

would december 17 be considered sooner?