Thailand Political Situation and Safety
 

My husband and I will be traveling to Thailand in mid-March. We have been made aware of the volatile political situation that is unfolding there this week, and possibly the next few weeks. Does anyone have any insight, either today or after this Friday, about the safety of traveling to Thailand? Our first few days we will be in Bangkok, followed by Chiang Mai and Phuket, and I'm not sure if this situation will have calmed down by the time we go there, or if it's safe to be there during this time.

It shouldn't be a problem. I was there for the protests last April. Just avoid the hot spots and you'll be OK.

I would follow the news closely and see how things unfold or develop from this Friday.

It's difficult to predict the future, but it's looking more and more like the riots predicted for Friday will be a non-event. There have been suggestions that the government or military is over-stating the risk to justify drastic actions, as well as rumors that the "red" faction is losing steam due to its lack of any philosophical base, resulting in splits between its leaders who were just using it as a way back into power.

Do keep an eye on the news, but I'm guessing there won't be any serious problems.

I looked at the Bangkok Post on line. What is the anticipated result from the courts re: the money? And if it is all confiscated, do the red shirts riot or march or have a sit-in? I don't quite understand the situation.

I'm still planning on BKK in April (so is Brad).

Who's the best source for keeping up on this? I hadn't heard anything at all about political unrest going on.
Hope this isn't deja vu....we went to Kenya in the middle of their political riots and were quite apprehensive about it, especially when Britain and other countries cancelled all their traveler's trips...and the US let us all go. Turned out that there were no issues as long as you were in the safari camps.

barefoot,

There are a lot of rumours going around so the best thing for you is to follow the news as it happens.

Even in the best of times, the local papers are not the best sources of information. They report what "important" people say, without checking any facts or opposing viewpoints. Now, they're even afraid to report or analyze the specific situation, so some of the best analysis I've seen is in the Singapore papers' web sites!

Don't forget that Singapore does have financial interest in this matter as it was the Singaporean government who actually gave the ex-premier all those billions by buying his businesses.

Nothing has happen yet and it's all conjecture right now. The government is not going to fully disclose what they are willing to do to counter any protest or how far they are willing go. At the same time the "red shirts" leaders are not going to disclose what they are planning to do in response to the court's judgements.

All people, including the foreign press, can only report on nothing and the only things they are predicting will happen. In the end this is a matter for the Thai people and what ever happen will be our destiny. Any inconveiniences that might be happen to the tourist will be most regretful but no press, domestic or foreign, can change the passion of the people.

That last paragraph suppose to read "All people, including the foreign press, can only report on nothing and they can only predict what will happen".

Red shirts, Yellow shirts, they could care less about tourists going on past history.

Make your trip.

If you're walking around anywhere there's usually plenty of obvious warning signs if the locals are out and about in fighting mood. Like the embassies always say, avoid large gatherings in public spaces. Unless you get curious and get to close to obvious areas of unrest then it's unlikely you will even know there's trouble unless you watch the news or see more than usual numbers of police or soldiers on the streets.

Probably wouldn't hurt to have a backup travel route thought out if things get silly and the airports get shut down again. Less likely than last time but you never can tell.

go and enjoy....

Having lived in Bangkok through all the protests over the past few years - here is my prediction for March. There will be a couple of protests in Bangkok, nothing too major unlike what the protest leaders predicted. The protests will be well publicized, but foreign tourists on the ground will be totally indifferent to any protest going around (unless they turn on the TV). As always, foreign tourists will be very very safe.