Haunman, I hope you didn't tell your wife what danger you were in. The news reports never mention the smells of a situation like this. Thanks for giving us the straight poop.

LAleslie,

The day before I went, on Saturday, the news were still reporting garbage truck and other vehicles running over unexploded ordinance and setting them off. I really thought they had cleared all of that.

Ha ha yes a lot of straight poop!

News of a lot of foreigners being arrested because of the unrest.

This English expat from, guess where? - Pattaya was arrested yesterday. They caught him on video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtfUy16X9Q0

Another Australian is under arrest as well under suspicion of being one of the sniper for the reds.

fantastic photos... thanks for sharing...

B&K

Thanks for the good news on the malls reopening. I did not think they would want to wait very long...

Carol,

Here's a good website created to help anyone coming over here with useful information about Bangkok and the reopening of tourist attractions, malls, mass transit, airport, rails, buses etc. It's updated daily and it's from an official source.

http://www.tourismthailand.org/thailandtourismupdate/

Amarin Plaza rumoured to be reopen tomorrow and if I hear different will let you know.

erghhh - what a gross farang. No wonder people are angry.

I saw this guy being interviewed last week (not sure which news channel it was) thought he was a knob then......I hope he gets arrested.

I concur dogster and there are quite a few of them it seems. You should see some of the chat on the local chat rooms. If he's not in custody then I hope he is hiding out some where. Apart from breaking the laws here he has apparently broken some British law as well. IMO some jail time in Thailand and then deport him for more jail time in the UK.

Strange that we are only seeing expats from the UK, Australia and Canada that had publicly said such things or had actually committed crimes ranging from inciting violence to treason and murder(the sniper) and from no where else. One Canadian even threaten to elbowed people in the heads on behalf of the reds. Apparently they don't know the magic of video!

Smeagol I think he was arrested on the 21st but I'm not too sure. Maybe it's time for Thailand to examine the immigration policy?

sorry - time for Thailand to Reexamine the Thai immigration policy.

Hanuman, what is the take on these foreigners involved in the violence? Mercenaries? Overgrown adolescents who can't resist a fight? True Believers in Thaksin?

That's a tough question Kathie!

Let me just first say that most expats in Thailand are genuine hard working people who are here to make a living or to find a new life. These guys have work permits from legitimate businesses or have started their own businesses here.

The foreigners in the above examples who committed crimes during the red shirts riot are what the dogster once eloquently described to me as "S.H.I.T." or those that find themselves "Suddenly Handsome In Thailand". Probably not working or don't have work permits, here on a tourist visas, enjoying the drugs, alcohol and cheap sex. When all hell break loose and anarchy reign, like in the red camp, they find that they can crawl out of their holes and be a part of something.

Just my opinion of course and that's my take on them. We have bad Thais in L.A., London, Sydney, Paris etc so I guess we have bad foreigners here as well to balance things out.

Hand them a pint and point them to the nearest football game and maybe they'll go away. S.H.I.T.--I love it.

This is an amazing letter and thank you so much for taking the time to write it, as well as the courage and decency it took to volunteer. Having stayed close to the Hyatt (can't believe its almost l0 years already) we have been following the news reports, and having difficulty believing its the same city we enjoyed exploring so much, and hoping to live there some day.

Janet - I'm happy to report that things are returning to normal and we have started going out around the city again.

Is it still safe to travel to Thailand?

shehzad,

Yes I think so and it has been quiet since the crackdown. We, my family, are going out again - shopping, eating, sightseeing so we feel that it is safe.

REUTERSFLASH: Thai prime minister says difficult to hold elections by year-end

Here we go again!

The next election is not due until the end of 2011 but we are expecting an early one around February.

I hope you are not a troll nifty!

Troll, no. Full of hope me! So, you feel this is nothing to cause grumblings of unrest?