Potential coup in Thailand

BuffyBot

Breaking news: potential coup in Thailand, centered around Bangkok at the moment. Might be of use to those travelling or intending to travel in the region.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5361008.stm

breadmonkey

I think this has been brewing for some time. I read some stuff about it in the Bangkok Post in July. Seemingly, this has actually happened a good few times but has been generally non-violent.

Mythago

I think this has been brewing for some time. I read some stuff about it in the Bangkok Post in July. Seemingly, this has actually happened a good few times but has been generally non-violent.

Has been brewing for a while. The political system in the country is a complete disaster. Alot of the positions of power are occupied by the PM's "friends". Interestingly, I've just come back home for a bit & when I was driving up to BKK noticed alot of military on the move. But the BKK Post said the Army was on manouevres outside the capital.

breadmonkey

Mythago wrote:

But the BKK Post said the Army was on manouevres outside the capital.

Lol:D

Benny-c

50 dollar .........love you long time..........:D

ShiverinEskimo

I'm going there in 6 weeks time and am zipping around various places within Thailand.

Should I have any reason to be worried? Should all be calmed down by then yes?

breadmonkey

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

I'm going there in 6 weeks time and am zipping around various places within Thailand.

Should I have any reason to be worried? Should all be calmed down by then yes?

Who knows? I would definitely keep a close eye on it and check here regularly.

BuffyBot

Also the UK's Foreign Office Travel Advice site is normally very good, and updated a little quicker than the Dept of Foreign Affairs one. www.fco.gov.uk and click Travel Advice on the left.

jonny68

Benny-c wrote:

50 dollar .........love you long time..........:D

rabbitinlights

Benny-c wrote:

50 dollar .........love you long time..........:D

Jeez, Inflation is a bitch........;)

Royale with Cheese

The girlfriend is over there now. Arrived in bangkok last thursday but has since left to some other city. Is supposed to off to the islands on thursday I think. Haven't managed to get in contact with her yet. She's supposed to be there for another 4 weeks before flying to Australia. Have no idea what she's going to do.

ShiverinEskimo

having looked at a fair few news reports including a few live reports from bangkok its more or less very civil. The reporter live in Bangkok stated he passed through many road blocks without difficulty and that life was most unaffected outside bangkok. Bangkok itself is under martial law and has more or less been shut down.

Many people though seem to be acting in a business as usual since the Coup seems to have been expected for some time.

Dave!

The army have given themselves a deadline of 2 weeks to find a replacement Prime Minister, who will remain in the position until an election in a year's time.

Judging by reports, etc., this sounds like a good thing for Thailand. Corrupt leader out, army don't want to hold onto power themselves, no violence, new election in a year. Although it's not a good thing that the army can just oust whoever's in power whenever they want. But having said that, the Thai population don't seem to be a fan of the current PM, so perhaps it's just acting out their wishes.

RoyalMarine

as to the op's question,
no no problems at all..

myself nd the girlfriend are here 6 weeks now, and since it happened there was no differences really.
there is still bombings against the military in the south etc, but nothing else has happened.
that arsehole pm is gone so the thai's are happy. the military is happy that no shots were fired etc, and well the king approved and gave his support so the public wont do anything bad like riot since he said go for it.

once the king says ok, the public will automatically support anymove the king supports.

and yeah the military "said" they will step down this week or the next. time will tell. but im sure they will.

as for travelling in and out, there is no problems. if that pm had stayed in, then maybe there might have been, because he was introducing a limit on the amount of 30 day tourist visa runs to laos, cambodia etc that you are allowed to do...

this obviously stirred some panic amoung us "falang's" living here on 30 day tourist visa's untill we start working in a month or so...

but as for now, its all quite and no 1 really knows whats going on.
so dont worry, dont un-pack your suitcase and run to e-bay with your tickets.

Dave!

Cheers for that