I don't want to dwell on the ins and outs of the trouble - as foreigners here we are OK to observe, but it's unwise to get involved.
Instead I'd like to focus on whether Thailand is still safe to visit, and whether you can still travel here.
Well the good news is that Thailand is still open for business. Most of the protests are in the old part of the city and tourists don't visit it so much. Nonetheless, Khao San Road is quite near the trouble, as is the zoo Falcon and I visited last month.
The trouble does move around though. I am 3 Km away from Ramkhamhaeng, the scene of the worst violence over the weekend. This is pretty much a no-go area now, but there's no really much there for foreigners to see anyway. It's kind of cut off any chance of dating ladies from that area which is a shame as it was a good place to meet decent girls.
A very low flying helicopter has just gone past my condo, so I guess some more problems have been kicking off there.
The airports are still open here, and I've heard troops have been deployed to keep them safe.
Yesterday some of Bangkok's biggest shopping malls were closed. I took a look at the demonstration. The demonstrators were mostly middle class voters, and the atmosphere was good.
I've seen big protests in London (notably a 250,000 people demonstration by Tamils) but the big difference in Bangkok is that the police were nowhere to be seen
. If it turns ugly, you're on your own.As to the impact, I talked to a Chinese girl on wechat last night and she told me "Thailand is now not peace". I'm sure 2014 will be a bad year for tourism here, and that Chinese tour groups with go to Vietnam instead. On the other hand the baht is tanking, and cheap holidays in the sun are very tempting for millions...
Anyway, Bangkok is still open for business. I had a run in with a nasty British guy begging for money at the supermarket this morning. Honestly, your fellow countrymen are the biggest danger here
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