The teenager that lives just a couple houses away is the only one that has seen the resident village ghost! Maybe it's not juju, just good meds!

I have been there during one coup - plus when PKT airport was closed - and agin when BKK airports were closed - and again during the Tsunami - and I had to hear what was going on, on the news every time apart from the BKK airport closure as I was due to fly to Phuket that day and my taxi just turned around and went back to BKK - I waited till the following day airport still closed - so hired a car a drove to PKT - then claimed airfare back so a bit of an inconvenience but no more than that

not sure about situation in bkk, but on the WWW, it sucks, this site, travelfish, thaitourist ??, phuket gazette/phuketwan have been 'ACCESS DENIED' for days. with no explanation and not making sense, as how are tourist supposed to get info to visit. got msg in my email, stating new msg on here, but took days to access. so if anyone needs me, laphanphon@hotmail.com or facebook, same name: laphanphon

besides that, enjoy.

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https://sites.google.com/site/lareegem/

According to the a few news articles on the internet, and a family friend travelling to Thailand tomorrow (who's wife is Thai, and has been there for a week), 4 grenades were detonated this morning, outside a bank. Does anybody have news of how/if this has affected tourism at all?

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Thailand in November 2010 - Can't Wait!

Breaking news on the BBC website... will post more when a story emerges...

Article here: BBC News - Thai PM declares emergency in Bangkok amid protests

The military has also shown a break from the government stance.

I smell change in the air....

sometimes I wonder do they want any tourists at all - I know and most on here know - that we will not be harmed during protests - but imagine you had never been or worse still you were planned to go next week having never been - for those in that predicament please do not let this put you off - you will be treated as if nothing is happening - and you wont have as many queues to put up with - I just hope they can sort it this time

The internal problems, faced by the Thai people, go far beyond the tourist trade. The uncertainty caused by the protests is wreaking havoc on the industry, numbers down 30% for March, but it isn't the focus.

Unfortunately, the corruption that pervades most of Thailand doesn't make for stable government.

So, it has come to this! I sense the imminent implementation of the 33rd coup in Thailand's rocky history since the cessation of absolute monarchy in 1932. As Curt has so correctly pointed out, the endemic corruption that pervades every facet of a Thai person's life is the root cause of so much of the political chaos that has enveloped Thailand for the past 75 years or thereabouts.

Phil mcfc: you can be injured in coups. A very good friend of mine who was a photo journalist was killed by "crossfire" in the 1982 uprising outside the gates of the Royal Palace. He was standing 150 metres from the action so the "crossfire" that the "cover-up" commission that was set up after the coup to investigate the farang deaths, didn't stand up to forensic scrutiny. Along with my mate, one New Zealander, one Canadian, one Indonesian and one German were also killed that day in that bloodiest of coups merely by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As I have said many times in past years on this forum, you need to keep your wits about you at all times whilst in Thailand because its inherent political instability can boil over at any moment on any particular cause. Behind all of those smiles are some very serious unresolved issues!

And one other sobering statistic from The London Times:More Brits die in Thailand than any other overseas destination. Some of the deaths are suicide, others natural causes, others murder and the final category is that referred to by the Brit ex-pat brigade as "flying club members".