What .…

Assorted random and unrelated thoughts from Simon Grigg.

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Just Whistlin’

December 24, 2013
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I spent three or four hours tak­ing pho­tos of the protests last Sun­day. There have been all sorts of absurd claims of mil­lions of pro­test­ers but log­ic and the eye­ball would indi­cate a crowd in the low to mid-hun­dreds of thou­sands. The claims bring to mind Hitler’s famed ‘big lie’ the­o­ry.

I walked between stages and took about 250 shots. These are some of them:
Ratchaprasong

Skywalk
On the Sky­walk about Rama 1
Pho­tos and self­ies seemed to be a core activ­i­ty, often more than protest­ing.

Whistle and lanyard seller

Outside the Louis Vuitton store - this was quite a different crowd to the 2010 protest. The high end stores were doing incredible business.
Out­side the Louis Vuit­ton store — this was quite a dif­fer­ent crowd to the 2010 protest. The high end stores were doing incred­i­ble busi­ness.

Lanyards and whistles Zen

The stage at Ratchaprasong. There were definitely far less here than the reds had in 2010 but it was still an impressive number
The stage at Ratchapra­song. There were def­i­nite­ly far less here than the reds had in 2010 but it was still an impres­sive num­ber

Outside Gaysorn Plaza Ratchaprasong Get Out! Angry Ratchaprasong Outside Zen

What was noticeable was the number who could be termed "protest tourists". People who were there for the spectacle. There was none of that with the Reds.
What was notice­able was the num­ber who could be termed “protest tourists”. Peo­ple who were there for the spec­ta­cle.
Kids in the castle. It was quite the outing for some.
Kids in the cas­tle

Central World Central World Central World

The only ugly spot I saw on the day - a smallish number of hoodlums getting pretty heavy outside Police HQ.
The only ugly spot I saw on the day — a small­ish num­ber of hood­lums get­ting pret­ty heavy out­side Police HQ.
Rama 1 between Central World and Siam was about this busy all along.
Rama 1 between Cen­tral World and Siam

Sign

Looking down on the Skytrain station about 4.30pm
Look­ing down on the Sky­train sta­tion about 4.30pm
outside Paragon
Out­side Paragon

Selfies Siam Siam

Where it got busier again, by the stage near the BACC
Where it got busier again, by the stage near the BACC

Bears

I'm guessing these guys were counted in the bizarre claims of 'millions' made by the organisers. 2-300,000 would be my estimate but who knows.
I’m guess­ing these guys were count­ed in the bizarre claims of ‘mil­lions’ made by the organ­is­ers.

BACC Siam Discovery

Meanwhile a few metres away from the crowd, the Siam Festival was going on, with stages and DJs etc. You'd never have known that there was a protest, no matter the size, a close by.
Mean­while a few metres away from the crowd, the Siam Fes­ti­val was going on, with stages and DJs etc. You’d nev­er have known that there was a protest, no mat­ter the size, close by.

 

 

12 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

Lind­say Ead­on on Face­book
December 24, 2013 at 5:05 pm

Thanks Simon your pics keep me informed

Simon Grigg on Face­book
December 24, 2013 at 5:09 pm

Cheers Lind­say

Lind­say Ead­on on Face­book
December 24, 2013 at 5:11 pm

Your pics make more sensw than some of daisys eng­lish

Lind­say Ead­on on Face­book
December 24, 2013 at 5:13 pm

Oh and the nz show just played 4 songs by no tag from can we get away with it and have giv­en audio cul­ture web­site 2 plugs good stuff

Simon Grigg on Face­book
December 24, 2013 at 5:13 pm

Thank you Lind­say. I hope you have a great Xmas!

Lind­say Ead­on on Face­book
December 24, 2013 at 5:14 pm

Mer­ry Christ­mas simon

Lind­say Ead­on on Face­book
December 24, 2013 at 5:15 pm

I am learn­ing thail­ish he he

Paul Het­et on Face­book
December 24, 2013 at 6:05 pm

whistlin Dix­ie ?

Ann Orman on Face­book
December 25, 2013 at 2:11 am

Great pho­tos simon

Chris Waugh
December 25, 2013 at 7:26 am

Great pho­tos, Simon. They give a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent pic­ture of the protests than the main­stream media.

I’m curi­ous, though, about the preva­lence of Eng­lish signs. Is that nor­mal for Thai­land? Try­ing to attract inter­na­tion­al atten­tion? Try­ing to show how much more cul­tured and sophis­ti­cat­ed they are than those dirty Yingluck sup­port­ers?

Mer­ry Christ­mas!

Simon
December 25, 2013 at 8:55 am

Thanks Chris. The signs are in Eng­lish pri­mar­i­ly I think because for many of the Thai mid­dle class Eng­lish is com­mon­ly used. In areas like Thon­gLor, Aree, Ekka­mai (and oth­ers) in Bangkok you see more Eng­lish sig­nage than Thai and the menus etc are in Eng­lish. These are not tourist areas at all, but Thai mid­dle and upper class. Bangkok is very bi-lin­gual.

I’m not sure any­one par­tic­u­lar­ly cares about inter­na­tion­al atten­tion, although the thug­gi­er ele­ments seem a lit­tle upset at the fact the the for­eign media have been less than sym­pa­thet­ic to Suthep’s cries for a ‘People’s Coun­cil’ head­ed by him. That said, I’d argue that most of those in the streets on Sun­day are less than sup­port­ive of that too. They want Yingluck out of pow­er but want her gone via the bal­lot box.

Simon Grigg on Face­book
December 25, 2013 at 10:25 am

Thank you Ann, I appre­ci­ate that. Hope you are hav­ing a great day!

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