‘Bangkok Dangerous’ fails to live up to its billing
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Bangkok was besieged this weekend as hundreds of thousands of angry protesters descended on the capital, closing roads, blocking access to key areas of the city and generally causing mayhem. Army depots had been raided, and the heavily-armed mob was intent on causing chaos and destruction, not halting its devastating march until it had succeeded in toppling the government and terrorising the population. The title of Nicholas Cage’s appalling movie, ‘Bangkok Dangerous’, appeared rather appropriate.
If you are living anywhere other than Bangkok right now, this may seem like an all-too credible report of the weekend’s events. Travelling to Bangkok this weekend would certainly seem like a crazy idea. After all the reports we’ve heard in the international press, surely the Thai capital was a dangerously unstable place to be. Surely violent clashes were inevitable. Surely city would be in a state of lock-down.
If you are living in Bangkok however, it is easy to mistake the footage of these mob demonstrations for somewhere else. Wandering through the city streets, life was peaceful and calm. My girlfriend and I had a lovely day on Saturday, taking a leisurely walk down Silom Road, having a nice meal at our favourite restaurant, before taking the skytrain up to CentralWorld for some shopping, and taking in the Bangkok Jazz Festival. I wondered if people had got their dates wrong. The largest mob we saw was outside CentralWorld, where a crowd of teenage girls were screaming for a Korean pop act who had appeared on stage. Sure, the girls were getting pretty het up, and at one point I feared for the singer’s safety, but I don’t think there was any danger to the public.
This is the thing with Thailand’s political unrest; much is made of it, but the protests rarely pose any serious public threat. Sure, the airports did close in late 2008, but there was never any real danger. A danger of being late for work, perhaps, or a danger of having to spend a couple of extra days in Bangkok (such a hardship!), but no danger to personal safety. So the next time you see the terrifying images on television and consider cancelling your trip to Thailand, please don’t. It really hurts the tourism operators here, from the airlines and hoteliers, right down to the trinket salesmen and tuk-tuk drivers. Much like Cage’s 2008 movie, all hype of this weekend fell rather flat. Bangkok isn’t dangerous at all.
Comments are closed.