What Happens When You Set Your Capital on Fire

TravelFish founder Stuart has posted a fascinating graph which shows the declining business of hotel reservations in Bangkok during the 2 months of protests by the red shirts. The text provides further insight into this depressing situation. Cheer up Stu, at least you're living in lovely Bali.

They say that a picture says a thousand words so I won’t waffle on about the about chart (bigger version here), other than to say it represents the rather precipitous fall in daily hotel reservations through Travelfish via one of our affiliate partners.

This is all reservation enquiries, so doesn’t take into account cancellations — meaning the fall is actually considerably worse than what the above illustrates. I should also note the airport shutdowns instigated by the yellow shirts had an equally destructive effect on reservations — I just don’t have time right now to make two charts!

Given that matters are sizing up for another meltdown around October/November this year (ie just in time for the peak tourist season) it is difficult to understate just how damaging all this is to the Thai economy. While it is clear Thailand has very serious societal issues that do need to be addressed, crucifying the travel and tourism industries seems hardly to be the way forward.

Who would have thought six years ago (when we started Travelfish.org) that today Indonesia would be seeing relatively progressive economic development accompanied by encouraging signs on the tourism side of things, while Thailand would be actively working to reinvent itself into the region’s new basketcase.

New Immigration Building in Bangkok

Big Baby Kenny has a superb series of photos of the new immigration office in Bangkok. He concludes that the building is spacious and beautiful, but the same hassles remain as with the old immigration office off Sathorn Road. I could also use a map to locate the new immigration office and perhaps some transport tips. Otherwise, a great post and very useful for farangs living in Bangkok and Pattaya.

The Last Moments of Fabio Polenghi

Prachathai posts a sad article that recalls the last moments of Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi.

SPIEGEL correspondent Thilo Thielke was in Bangkok the day the Thai Army cleared the Red Shirt camps. It was the last day he would work with his friend and colleague, Italian photojournalist Fabio Polenghi, who died from a gunshot wound.

When the helicopters started circling over the center of Bangkok last Wednesday at 6 a.m., I knew that the army would soon launch its attack. This was the moment that everyone had been fearfully expecting for weeks. I had always doubted that the government would actually allow things to go this far. There were many women and children in the district occupied by the protesters. Did the soldiers really want to risk a bloodbath?

A state of emergency had prevailed for the past six weeks in the Thai capital, with the royalist government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the army on one side, and a broad coalition of anti-government protesters -- many originating from the poor provinces of northern Thailand -- on the other side. Approximately 70 people had died in street fighting and over 1,700 had been wounded. The pro-government Bangkok Post had called it "anarchy" and the opposition spoke of "civil war."

At 8 a.m. I arrived in the Red Zone, a three-square-kilometer (one-square-mile) area surrounding the Ratchaprasong business district, which the army had sealed off on all sides. On that day, as on previous occasions, it was relatively easy to slip into the encampment, which I had visited a number of times over the past few months. Behind barricades made of bamboo and car tires, the protesting Red Shirts had pitched their tents and built a stage. But the revolutionary party atmosphere that had always reigned here before had evaporated that morning.

People were stoically awaiting the soldiers. They knew that the military would attack from the south, via Silom Road, and the braver ones among them had ventured to as far as a kilometer (0.6 miles) from the front line. They stood there, but they weren't fighting. Some of them had slingshots, but nobody was firing.

A wall of fire made of burning tires separated the protesters from the army. Thick smoke choked the street, and as the soldiers slowly pressed forward, shots whipped through the streets. Snipers fired from high-rises and the advancing troops shot through the smoke. And we, a group of journalists, ducked for cover, pressing ourselves against a wall to avoid getting hit. Pick-ups with paramedics sped by to take away the wounded.

A Devastated Urban Landscape

It was 9:30 a.m. when Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi joined us. Fabio had spent a lot of time in Bangkok over the last two years, and we had become friends during this time. Fabio, a good-natured dreamer, 48, from Milan had been a fashion photographer in London, Paris and Rio de Janeiro before coming to Bangkok to work as a photojournalist. We had traveled together to do a feature on Burma, and since then he had often worked for SPIEGEL. Over the past few weeks, the two of us had almost always been on the go together.

Just the previous evening, we had walked through the city together until darkness fell. We met on Din Daeng Street near the Victory Monument, which symbolizes Thailand's pride in expanding its territory 69 years ago. Now we stood in the midst of a devastated urban landscape, which revealed the country's slide into chaos. Dark smoke hung in the air; only the outlines of the obelisk were visible. The streets had been transformed into a war zone. A few days earlier I had crouched here behind a small wall for half an hour, seeking protection from the army's hail of bullets -- they had suddenly opened fire because some show-off had strutted around with a slingshot.

Not far from the Red Shirts' encampment stands Pathum Wanaram Temple, which was intended to serve as a safe zone for women and children during an attack. That evening we met Adun Chantawan, 42, an insurgent from the village of Pasana in the northeastern region of Isaan -- the rice-growing area where the rebellion against the government began.

Adun told us that he harvests sugarcane and rice there as a day laborer -- for €4 ($5) a day. He had been here in Bangkok since the beginning of the occupation two months ago. Abhisit's government must resign, he said, because it has not been elected by the people and is only supported by the military, which staged a coup to oust the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra -- the hero of the poor. He wants Thaksin to return, said Adun, but more than anything else he wants a Thailand where the elite no longer have all the power and others also share in the wealth. Adun never thought that the government would so brutally crack down on its own people. He told us that he was prepared to fight to the death for his ideals.

Dreams of Living in a More Democratic Society

Adun Chantawan was a typical Red Shirt supporter, but far from all of them came from the poor northern provinces. There were also bankers from Bangkok among them, who joined the insurgents in the evenings after work, and young rowdies, too. For most of them, it was not primarily about Thaksin. They were mostly concerned with the social injustice in the country. Many of them dreamt of living in a more democratic society. I could never understand the government's claims that the Red Shirts had been bought by Thaksin. Nobody allows themselves to be shot for a handful of baht.

When we looked for Adun the next day, he was nowhere to be found. Chaos was everywhere. Fabio and I saw the smoke, and the soldiers behind it, advancing towards us -- and we heard an increasing number of shots. Snipers from a side street were targeting us.

The onslaught had begun. I didn't dare go any farther, but Fabio ran forward, across the street, where shots were regularly fired -- a distance of roughly 50 meters (160 ft.) -- and sought shelter in a deserted Red Cross tent. This marked the beginning of the no man's land between us and the advancing troops. I saw his light blue helmet marked "press" bob into view. He waved for me to come join him, but it was too dangerous for me up there.

Since the beginning of the conflict, I have experienced the Thai army as an amateurish force. If they had cleared the street protests at the outset, the conflict would have never escalated to this extent. Once the soldiers attempted to clear the demonstrators, they left a trail of casualties. They fired live ammunition at Red Shirts who were barely armed.

I observed absurd, unequal battles during those days. Young people crouched behind sand bags and fired on the soldiers with homemade fireworks and slingshots. The soldiers returned fire with pump guns, sniper rifles and M-16 assault rifles.

At their camp, the Red Shirts had displayed photos on a wall of corpses with shots to the head -- they wanted to prove that snipers in high-rises had purposely liquidated demonstrators. These included Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol, a renegade officer and one of the most radical leaders of the anti-government protesters, who had been shot in the head six days earlier, and died shortly thereafter.

The government maintains that it has nothing to do with liquidations, and that the demonstrators are shooting each other dead. That isn't true. Over the past two years, during which I reported on the Red Shirts, I have almost never seen a firearm -- with the exception of the occasional revolver in the hand of a bodyguard.

On that morning, the first soldiers broke through the wall of smoke. From where I was standing, it was barely possible to make them out, but you could hear bullets whistling through the air. They were fired by the snipers, who were working their way forward, from building to building. Some of them appeared to be directly above us. Fabrio was nowhere to be seen.

They Had Shot an Italian

I headed towards Pathum Wanaram Temple, a few hundred meters to the west, in the Red Zone. The occupying protesters had lost, that much was clear -- they hadn't even fought back. It was 11:46 a.m., and they were playing the national anthem. Women and children were fleeing to the temple courtyard to escape the approaching troops. One of the protesters' leaders, Sean Boonpracong, was still sitting in the main tent of the Red Shirts. He said that he intended to carry on with the resistance, even after the army's attack. Instead of allowing himself to be arrested, he planned to go into hiding.

At 11:53 a.m. I tried to reach Fabio by phone. His voicemail clicked in, which wasn't unusual. You could only occasionally get a signal. Across from the temple, in front of the police hospital, a number of journalists were waiting for the paramedics to arrive with the wounded. A nurse noted the admissions on a board. It was 12:07 p.m., and she had already written down 14 names. A foreign reporter stood next to me. He said that they had shot an Italian. Right in the heart. Over one and a half hours ago. He said that he had taken his picture. He even knew his name: Fabio Polenghi.

Columns of smoke billowed up over the city that afternoon. The retreating Red Shirts set fire to everything: the huge Central World shopping center, the stock exchange and an Imax movie theater. People looted supermarkets and ATMs. When I finally returned home, piles of tires were burning on the street.

On the evening of the day that the government set out to restore order, Bangkok was an apocalyptic place. And Fabio, my friend, was dead.

Giles Ji Ungpakorn on the Military Dictatorship in Thailand

Thai Political Prisoners posts the latest opinion from the political exile now living in England.

We have a full-blown military dictatorship in Thailand
Giles Ji Ungpakorn

Make no mistake. We have a full military junta in Thailand with Abhisit acting as a “democratic” mask. The repression and censorship is worse than even after the 6th October 1976. More people have been killed by the army than in any previous repression. It is worse than during the Sarit dictatorship era in the 1960s and the reason is that the regime is trying desperately to suppress the biggest mass movement for Democracy in Thai history. Hundreds are being rounded up. There is wide spread censorship. The regime is increasingly looking like China, Burma or North Korea.

The Thai military junta, headed by Abhisit Vejjajiva is now responsible for at least 88 deaths since 10th April. They have heavily censored all media and internet sites. They are afraid of the truth and free debate. All this is to avoid elections and to cling to power. Abhisit, the Military and his conservative royalist cronies are dragging Thailand back to the dark ages and the middle-class NGOs and most academics are supporting this cause. The National Human Rights Commission is helping to prosecute the UDD. NGO senator Rosana and her band of right wing friends were calling for the army to slaughter the Red Shirts.

Today the Thai junta blocked the independent internet newspaper Prachatai once again and banned all Red Shirt publications. Many people who are in jail are being threatened with the death sentence. While hundreds of Red Shirts are in custody for demanding Democracy, the fascist Yellow-shirted PAD who shut down the international airports in late 2008, have had any proceedings against them delayed … yet again.

And what about the King? Many people may remember the Buddhist monks who chanted for peace at the Victory Monument just before the army moved in to kill civilians at Rajprasong…. Compare that with the total silence of the King and the support for the junta shown by the Queen and the Crown Prince. What a useless and parasitic life these aristocrats live!!

The junta’s success in clinging to power by murdering the people is merely a success built on sand. They can kill hundreds and imprison thousands, but they will never win the hearts and minds on the people. Thailand will never be the same again.

See this photo album: http://redphanfa2day.wordpress.com/red-shirt-rally-at-phan-fa-bridge-photo-gallery/2/

WSJ on the Current Situation in Thailand

An important article from the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal, MAY 24, 2010

The Spring of Thailand’s Ethnic Discontent

By DAVID STRECKFUSS

Khon Kaen, Thailand

As the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (the “red shirts”) in central Bangkok ended their 79-day protest and surrendered themselves to authorities on May 19, Thailand literally went up in flames. For the rest of that day, roving bands of angry red-shirt protesters torched dozens of buildings in Bangkok. The governor of Bangkok proclaimed that May 19 would forever be remembered by its inhabitants.

Yet while much of the international focus has been on the situation in Bangkok—where indeed the protests have been largest and the violence most severe—it is now clear the disaffection has spread. In provinces through the North and Northeast, furious red-shirt mobs put to flame provincial halls and other offices and businesses perceived as sympathetic to the government. In this city of 200,000 situated 450 kilometers from Bangkok, red shirts pushed back police to set fire to the provincial hall and the government television station that they say distorted the news about their struggle, and broke windows of the bank they say funded the forces that have left more than 70 of them dead since April 10.

The pressing question for Thailand’s future now is whether the Bangkok elites who support the current government and oppose the red shirts will take the trouble to understand why disaffection is spreading.

The truth is that these protests have tapped into a long-simmering brew of ethnic and economic tensions bubbling below the surface of Thai society. It is often said there are two Thailands: Bangkok and the rest.

After a century of the capital’s political and military incursions into the hinterland, the red-shirt demonstration represented the most serious and sustained foray of the hinterland into Bangkok.

Bangkok truly isn’t like the rest of the country. A century ago saw the rather haphazard initial construction of a nationalist model based on smothering local languages, cultures and ethnic identity under a Western colonial-inspired centralized Thai state. In both the North and Northeast, rebellions against Thai state incursions were promptly suppressed. Ethnically, the people of the North and Northeast are Lao and originally spoke dialects of Lao. Yet under the new nationalism they were suddenly “Thai” and spoke a local “Thai dialect.” Even after a century of mixing with central Thai, it may not be too much of an exaggeration to say that a majority of people now living in Thailand speak a Lao dialect in their homes.

An emerging regionalism was crushed by military governments in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, the military dictatorship of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat perfected the model of Thai-ness, defined by praise of hierarchy and the unified Thai race, the centrality of the monarchy and “Thai-style democracy.” A threat of greater democratization and political liberalization was cut short by a bloody coup in 1976.

It was only with the “People’s Constitution” of 1997 that sovereignty decisively shifted into the hands of the Thai people through a fully elected House of Representatives and Senate. The constitution recognized local community and cultural rights and promised greater decentralization. Now there was a mechanism for addressing regional inequalities. Poor people were suddenly enfranchised more than ever before in Thai history. A majority in the North and Northeast regions, supplemented by poorer classes in urban areas, could, if unfettered, play the deciding role in representative democracy.

This has set the stage for this year’s protests. Bangkok elites have laid the blame with the populist former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire whose government promoted essentially free health care, debt aid to farmers and rural economic development. But Mr. Thaksin didn’t create the forces that are now roiling Thailand. He was simply more adept than earlier politicians at understanding how to appeal to voters outside Bangkok. His political genius was to tap into the demand this enfranchisement created in rural areas for a greater voice in Thai government.

Rather than adjusting to the new political realities, Mr. Thaksin’s detractors fell back on complaints (some justified, some not) that he bought votes, undermined democratic institutions, committed massive human rights violations and used his office for personal gain. The forces of conservatism, as represented by the pro-monarchy, old-establishment People’s Alliance for Democracy, or “yellow shirts,” regrouped and supported the 2006 military coup that threw Mr. Thaksin out of power after months of demonstrations.

The ensuing 2007 military-inspired constitution limited popular sovereignty through a half-appointed Senate, new electoral rules and a greatly expanded role of the judiciary. From 2006 to 2008, Thai courts nullified one election that Mr. Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party won; dissolved Thaksin-backed parties twice and banned 220 0f their executive members from political office for five years; and removed one prime minister—Samak Sundaravej—for taking a small remuneration for hosting a television cooking show.

At the same time, a court order seemed to condone the yellow shirts’ months-long occupation of the Government House, and the justice system has yet to bring yellow-shirt leaders to trial on “terrorism” charges for seizing Bangkok’s international airport in late 2008. The suspects—including Thailand’s present Minister of Foreign Affairs—were given bail. In contrast, following the recent protests in Bangkok the red shirts as a whole are being portrayed as terrorists and enemies of the nation, and the red-shirt leaders have been denied bail.

To many people in the North and Northeast, it appears that the courts are frustrating the popular will and there is no equality before the law. This in part explains the growing rage of red-shirt protesters. Prior to the end of their protest Wednesday, red-shirt leaders in Bangkok warned that if security forces attacked them, Thailand would become divided. Malay Muslims in the South of Thailand already have been in revolt for years. Such, the red shirts said, may happen with the North and Northeast. On the national stage during the protest, speakers from the North and Northeast often spoke, sang and celebrated in their preferred tongue—not as some performance of rustic, minority Thai people, but as a purposeful expression of a frustrated political disenfranchisement.

As the protests heated up in April, some angry Bangkokians took to the streets, screaming, “Rural people, get out!” These people of Bangkok only saw what the red shirts had done to them. They did not see that much of the red rage is about what Bangkok has done to the “second class” rural people.

Whether Bangkok’s elites will recognize that fact ultimately will make the difference between a democratic Thailand with equality under the law, or the possibility of a forever-fractured Thailand.

Mr. Streckfuss is a writer based in Thailand.

Red Shirt Rebellion -- Video of the Year

An amazing video summary of the Red Shirt rebellion of May 2010. TURN UP THE VOLUME. Many thanks to Magnoy Samsara for finding this gem.

New Mandala has a commentary.

Criteria for terrorism charges are loose, restrictions on civil liberties tight. The violent immediacy of the Red Shirt protests has dulled in the aftermath of eighty-eight dead, but the country’s mood still hangs dark. Thailand’s democratic façade is chipping away to reveal an ugly autarchic underside.

To top off the recent weeks’ extrajudicial killings in Bangkok’s streets, the government heightened charges against an already-exiled former premier and dubiously detained a Chulalongkorn University lecturer this Tuesday. Two Red Shirt-affiliated foreigners were arrested Wednesday. These developments follow ongoing intimidating interrogations of “potential dissidents” (mostly students) by the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situations (CRES), and accusations against nine Red Shirt leaders of terrorism, not to mention an alleged 500 others among the rank-and-file.

The word of the hour is unsubstantiated: ill-founded investigations, unjustified detentions, unsound accusations of terrorism. But while the government still lacks public proof for terrorism charges leveled against its political opponents, it has certainly demonstrated its own reign of terror in the latest phase of the country’s unrest.

The use of the word “terrorist” is an effort to tap into a public fear that already exists. This has been done before. In the 1970s, the specter of communism afforded the military bureaucracy extra legroom from its citizens to dictate policy. Strategic allegations of “communism” and “anti-monarchism” at this time dehumanized leftist student protesters enough in the eyes of those pulling the triggers to allow the massacres of 1973 and 1976. These words have a single enabling purpose: to cast a political “other” worthy of violent repression.

Substituting “corruption” for “communism”, the military took the liberty to intercede again in 1992, this time faced with greater resistance. 2006 saw more of the same with Thaksin’s expulsion on corruption charges, which sparked the most recent cycle of protests as patience for political meddling ran out.
The civil and military elites’ most recent tactics to keep a stranglehold on Thailand’s nominal democracy are desperate. The attempted indictment of Red Shirts in an anti-monarchist plot in late April largely failed to get off the ground. Accordingly, “terrorist” is merely the latest trigger word: a catch-all for any elusive, influential enemy entity.

Decha Premrudeelert, a leading NGO advisor in the Northeast, reaffirmed the context for the government’s current tactic. “In the struggle for power, you have to create an identity for the opposition. In the Cold War, it was communists. Now it is terrorists.”

Calling the Red Shirt leaders “terrorists” and claiming there were 500 more within Ratchaprasong gave the military a blank check for violent intervention. The highly charged word was used to convince the public that the military wasn’t taking the lives of human beings when it shot indiscriminately into the crowd—it was simply fighting terrorism.

The government’s accusations are identical to charges against the Yellow Shirts for their 2008 occupation of the Government House and Suvarnabhumi Airport. But stagnated court cases over those allegations are still pending a year and a half later, whereas calling Red Shirts “terrorists” warranted immediate, brutal killings. Inadvertently, the aftermath of these charges has reaffirmed one of the Red Shirts’ core grievances: political double standards.

The Emergency Decree and the guise of fighting “terrorism” have allowed for grievous breaches of human rights. Impromptu detentions and interrogations without formal charges are stacking up, accompanied by the government’s promise to shoot “terrorists” on sight, as banks and government buildings burned earlier this week. As the situation has progressed, CRES’ recondite operations seem more and more fanatically illogical. Its undertakings have definitively failed to foster stability or reach a resolution – the sole initial goal of the organization.

Instead of spotlighting external actors guilty of inciting terror for political ends, recent accusations of terrorism have become part of the government’s own policy of fear.

Exiled Thaksin Shinawatra is a populist former premier and a businessman with highly suspect financial practices. He is not a terrorist. The added charge is an afterthought aimed at convincing the international community to aid in his fiercely sought extradition. The Yellow Shirts were charged with terrorism after the 2008 protests as an overstatement; an acquittal on those charges would absolve them altogether. The accusation against the Red Shirts was the most egregious: the charge was intended to dehumanize protesters, allowing soldiers to gun them down with impunity.

The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship is not a terrorist organization. It is a fractured people’s movement for democracy, representing the disenfranchisement of the rural and urban poor. Its leaders are not terrorists; they espoused nonviolence even as the military swept them from the Ratchaprasong stage on 16 May 2010.

Cycles of corruption and intervention have pushed Thailand’s system of governance ever further from representative electoral democracy. Decades of coups, countercoups, protests, and reelections have stagnated democratic process, and terrorism charges against the two major political pressure groups only exacerbate this. This stagnation must end somewhere if Thailand is to move forward.

The question of the moment – whether this is a turning point in Thai politics – still lingers. But regardless of the pliability of Thailand’s political system, this is a new era: one that will not stand for age-old machinations. The Yellow Shirt and Red Shirt movements demonstrate hitherto unprecedented political awareness and agency of the people at large. Media and information availability prevent the continued concealment of military and bureaucratic interference in politics, even with ever-tightening censorship. The status quo is no longer an option.

Albeit disorganized and factionalized, the Red Shirts’ occupation of the capital embodies a new face of Thai politics that cannot be erased or rewritten: the socially and politically disenfranchised are seeking political voice and representation, now, and this ideal cannot be staunched with force. Deaths and dispersal will only intensify their cause.

Demands for democracy have been raw and vehement. Their physical manifestation in Bangkok has been dispelled for the time being, but the determination is no less powerful post-relocation. The use of political fear tactics – killing protesters, interrogations and detentions, charges of terrorism – will only further define the line beyond which the people will take no more. The current administration must reconcile with this truth.

Joe Luis Puppet Theater A wonderful look at the last pupppet theater in Thailand.

Bangkok's Joe Louis Puppet Theater, also known as “Nattayasala Hun Lakorn Lek,” is one of Bangkok's top but highly underrated attractions. It was founded by the late master of puppets Sakorn Yangkhieosod in 2002, whose English name was Joe Louis, and showcases the remarkable Thai traditional art of puppetry.

We headed to the venue, at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, for a close look backstage at one of the skilled puppeteers' recent performances. Check out some of the highlights in the gallery below:

The Joe Louis Puppet Theater is located in the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, at the corner of Wireless and Rama IV Roads, across from the white water tower. Dinner is served outside the restaurant before the show. Tickets are available for 900 baht and are sold from 6pm onwards. The show lasts from 8pm to 9.15 pm. In July 2009, a Joe Louis Puppet Theater was opened in Pattaya. It's in the form of an open air restaurant with a stage.

Bangkok Post: Snipers at the Temple

Bangkok Post finally reports on the most controversial incident during the Red Shirt protests of May 2010.

The fatal shooting of six people at Wat Pathumwanaram during the dispersal of the red shirt rally last week looks set to dominate the agenda of next week's censure debate.

The charged issue is expected to be raised by the opposition in the censure debate on Monday and Tuesday.

The opposition says the government's decision to resort to the use of force to break up the red shirt protest at Ratchaprasong intersection was responsible for the six deaths, including that of a Red Cross volunteer nurse.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban told reporters yesterday to wait until the censure debate for him to explain all the facts.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said during yesterday's budget bill debate in parliament that the government would describe the military's operations in handling the anti-government protest in detail.

Autopsy results on the six bodies by the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Police General Hospital would unravel the facts and that should answer the question of who killed them, he said.

The opposition Puea Thai Party said one red shirt protester, who himself was shot in the leg, had seen soldiers fire at a nurse working in the temple.

Mr Abhisit said the witness most probably had made a mistake in thinking he had seen a soldier shooting at people.

The premier said the protesters had been fed one-sided information and the soldiers had been vilified for weeks.

Many protesters were visibly afraid the soldiers might harm them and were reluctant at first to get aboard the vehicles provided by the government to take them home, Mr Abhisit said.

The protesters had the impression they would be taken to be killed by the soldiers, he said.

Mr Suthep also dismissed media reports that the government coalition partners were pressing for a cabinet reshuffle, saying no party had proposed a reshuffle so far.

Mr Abhisit said he had not talked to Korbsak Sabhavasu, his secretary-general, after he reportedly posted a message on Twitter about the possibility of there being a cabinet reshuffle.

The prime minister said he would wait until after the censure debate to discuss a reshuffle.

Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat, who is also a deputy leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, dismissed the speculation about a cabinet shake-up.

Another heart breaking first person account in the Bangkok Post:

Slain nurse's mum heard gunshots minutes before her death
Kamonked Akkhahad only wanted to help others before she was fatally shot
Published: 28/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

The heartbroken mother of slain nurse Kamonked Akkhahad spoke to her daughter on the phone just minutes before she was fatally shot.

Payao Akkhahad, 45, said she heard gunshots in the distance during the conversation sometime between 6pm and 7pm of May19.

Then, in a devastating phone call at 9pm, Ms Payao was told Kamonked had been shot to death.

Now she is looking for answers - and receiving none.

"She was a nice, kind-hearted girl who had always wanted to help others," Ms Payao said of her daughter, a 25-year-old Red Cross volunteer nurse.

Kamonked was killed at Wat Pathumwanaram during the military dispersal of red shirt protesters. Ms Payao said she urged her daughter to take cover and retreat to safety.

"But then around 9pm I was told by her friends she was dead," she said. The slain nurse's funeral was held on Wednesday at Wat Pak Bueng, a temple in the heart of a low-income community on Rom Klao Road in Bangkok's outer district of Lat Krabang.

It was a low-key ceremony attended by about 200 people made up of her family members, friends and supporters of the red shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) including some executives of the Puea Thai Party.

Kamonked, the eldest child from a low-income family, was among six people killed at the temple which had been designated a safe haven for protesters. The temple is next to the UDD rally site at Bangkok's Ratchaprasong intersection.

Until the fatal incident, she had been the sole breadwinner of the family which is now struggling to survive financially and emotionally.

But what is more important for them now is the search for truth over the killing of Kamonked. The family has demanded a clear explanation from the government.

Similar to the cases of the other 87 people, including five others at the temple, killed in the clashes between protesters and government forces from March12 to May20, details over who is responsible for the killings have not been established in a concrete manner acceptable to all sides, especially the red shirts.

Of the total death toll, 77 were civilians and 11 were security officers.

The Democrat Party-led government has mostly pointed the finger at "the work of terrorists" who it says mingled among the protesters. The military has displayed weapons belonging to "terrorists" which it says it found at the temple. But this has failed to convince the relatives of the dead and the injured.

"I want the government to search for the truth - I mean the real truth behind the killing," said Natthapach Akkhahad, 21, Kamonked's brother who has adopted the role as the family's breadwinner.

"If the state says the death is the work of terrorists, then tell us who those terrorists are. Name them for us."

Details and debate over the killing of the nurse were openly shared among people attending the funeral. Like other cases, many believe she was shot by security forces.

Pictures taken on the day show there were gunmen in military uniform positioned above the temple on the skytrain's tracks. The government has denied soldiers were there at the time of the incident.

"She [Kamonked] told me on the phone she was in front of the temple trying to help a man who was shot," Ms Payao recalled of the phone conversation.

"I told her to go back inside the temple, but she insisted the man needed help."

Witnesses say the nurse was killed about 7pm while helping this man. Two of her colleagues were also shot dead.

Krongthong Phuengsang, 66, said she had worked with Kamonked since April12, providing medical assistance to protesters."On May 19, our supervisors told us to leave the rally site before dawn but Kamonked decided to stay," she said. "What I remember is she wore a Red Cross gown that day."

Like others attending the funeral, the nurse's family finds it hard to accept the government's claim of terrorism elements as the cause of the death.

"My daughter should be the last person to be killed as she was wearing her Red Cross gown and doing her job," Ms Payao said.

Time Magazine Video on the Red Shirt Riots

Time magazine video about the Red Shirt riots in Bangkok.

Army Snipers at the Temple

Looks like we've finally got some photographic evidence that it was indeed army snipers who fired into the temple, declared a safe zone, and killed 6 innocent civilians. Will Abhisit investigate this outrage?

Jotman has some details. Visit the link for link connections.

UPDATES (2)
A paramedic's account of the night of May 19 points toward activity by armed personnel as depraved as anything that happened in Burma in September 2007.

Keng, a paramedic, had been working to save lives in a medical tent located on the grounds of Wat Pathumwanaram (Pathum Wanaram or วัดปทุมวนาราม). The website Pratachai interviewed Keng about what happened:

All paramedics wore red cross signs, but that did not save them from being shot. Bullets were fired right at the medical tent, Keng said.

The bullets came from a high angle. Despite a large sign put up that read ‘Sanctuary’ and everyone’s belief that inside the temple was the safest place, bullets came from the darkness.

Keng said it was likely that the gunshots were fired from the BTS skytrain track up above. On the morning of 20 May, at about 7-8 am, before police and the press came, when some of those inside the temple came out to look for food to share with the others, gunshots were fired from above. Soldiers were seen on the BTS track, carrying rifles.

Among the six dead inside the temple, three wore red cross signs.
The above photo shows two snipers on skytrain tracks overlooking a temple. If you click on the photo you will be able to see the snipers. They come to us via mediawar, who tweeted, "apparently these photos confirm Keng's words (about snipers on BTS)." The other photo is here. I don't know who took the photos [see update].

A UDD witness interviewed by the Bangkok Post/Spectrum echoes the medic's claim, "He said the gunmen were behind the concrete slabs on the second level of the elevated skytrain tracks. Everyone ran further inside the temple after the first man and the nurse were shot. 'From that position, the gunmen had a clear view of the temple,' he said." Another witness, an official at a foundation office located on the temple compound, was interviewed by the newspaper:

"We don't know who shot at us," said a foundation official. "But in my opinion, the shots must have been fired from a high position.

"Our temple is ringed by a high wall and the police headquarters are located just opposite us," he added. "So they must have been where they could not be seen by the police or passers-by."

Among the eyewitness accounts from May 19 compiled at Therelive.com are a number of reports from journalists who had been present at Wat Pathum temple.

Keng, A paramedic’s account of the 19 May slaughter - "Bullets were fired right at the medical tent, Keng said." (includes interview transcript, videos)
Andrew Buncombe, Eyewitness: Under fire in Thailand - "I cannot believe they are shooting in a temple."

Steve Tickner (via reporter), Australian reporter hides out in Buddhist temple

Mark MacKinnon, In a Bangkok Temple, the groans of the wounded shot seeking sanctuary - "... a place of death and terror as perhaps 1,500 civilians huddled inside."

Regarding the incident, at least two reports have appeared in the Thai media.

Nation Multimedia (Pongphon Sarnsamak) Gunfire made temple a scary place, reporter says

Bangkok Post, Unholly night in the temple compound

Andrew Buncombe, upon reading the Nation's account of his reporting, tweeted, "Interview with me in Nation is headlined: "Gunefire made temple a scary place, reporter says" is true, but that is not the story."

Wat Pathum Wanaram is located between two shopping malls Siam Paragon and CentralWorld, and across the street from Siam Square. Many red shirts had sought refuge on the temple grounds after the surrender of their leaders to Thai authorities.

Update 1:
Claudio, blogger and eyewitness to various recent events in Bangkok, points us to a video entitled "Sniper Fire and Dead in Wat Pathuwanaram, Bangkok, May 19th, 2010":

Update 2:
MediaWar has just written me to say, "looks like I've found source." The caption to a Getty photo at Daily Life reads: "Soldiers take position after gunshots were heard near a Buddhist temple in the heart of an anti-government protest zone, in downtown Bangkok on May 20, 2010.... soldiers were advancing on foot along an elevated train track, an AFP photographer saw." The caption to another photo reads, "A Thai soldier keeps guard in front of a temple which had been turned into a shelter within an anti-government protest site in downtown Bangkok on May 20, 2010. Thai police escorted thousands of protesters out of a Buddhist temple where they had cowered overnight after nine people were killed there in gunbattles." More Getty images of the temple here.

Sniper Fire and the Dead at Wat Pathuwanaram, Bangkok, May 19 2010

Rare footage taken inside the temple where snipers killed 6 innocent Thais. Who did this? The military is suspected, but no proof yet of the responsibility.

Were the Journalists Targeted?

I didn't realize the large number of journalists and photographers who were injured during the Red Shirt riots of May 2010. But it's a shocking number and begs the question: were members of the media deliberately targeted by the army?

Media organizations mourned the deaths and injuries of their colleagues and called for immediate efforts to establish facts and bring to justice those responsibility for the losses of people’s lives.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) said in its statement today that it is deeply saddened by the death of Italian freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi on 19 May from gunshot wounds, and extends its condolences to his family and friends.

Mr Polenghi, who worked as freelance for NASA news agency at the time of his death, was the second media fatality during the current political unrest in Bangkok following the fatal shooting on April 10 of Reuter’s Japanese cameraman Hiroyaki Muramoto near Ratchadamnoen Avenue.

As many more civilians have also been killed, every effort should be made to correctly identify those responsible for each individual death so that similar tragedies would not be repeated, the FCCT said.

Two other foreign journalists, both Canadian, have been seriously wounded but are in stable condition.

Nelson Rand, for France 24 television network, sustained three bullet wounds in his arm, leg and abdomen, whilst Chandler Vandergrift suffered shrapnel wounds to the head.

Three Thai photographers and one reporter have also wounded, including a veteran Nation senior photographer Chaiwat Phumpuang.

Dutch journalist Michel Maas, working for Dutch television and newspapers, as well as Radio Netherlands Worldwide, was hospitalized after being shot in his shoulder British correspondent Andrew Buncombe for The Independent have also been injured.

A number of other journalists have been less seriously hurt, but there has been concern over intimidation that has led to assaults on reporters and the loss of reporting materials and images. Some Thai newspapers have closed their offices early due to such intimidation, and local TV station Channel 3 was the target of an arson attack which took it off air for two days.

The FCCT reiterated President Marwaan Macan-Markar's earlier statement that all parties concerned should respect the rights of the domestic and foreign media to report these complex and volatile events with impartiality and accuracy.

“These are important and difficult times for all the people of Thailand and the free flow of correct information is more important than ever," Mr Macan-Markar said.

Earlier on, three media organizations, one each from the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, issued separate statements calling on the Thai government to ensure protection and safety of journalists covering the aftermath of the dispersal of the Red Shirt protesters and the subsequent rioting that broke out in Bangkok.

Questions after the Riots

The Bangkok Post today has an interesting opinion article which brings up some disturbing and challening questions.

The street riots which culminated with the arson of Bangkok's central business district have been put down as inevitable. Both the ragtag red shirts' perpetrators of violence and the more organised armed "men in black" were no match for a uniformed army supported by armoured columns in the end.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva speaks at a news conference held at the 11th Infantry Regiment in Bangkok on Friday. Mr Abhisit said he was committed to national reconciliation but made no offer of fresh elections, two days after troops quelled the worst political violence in modern Thai history.

The 70-odd death toll so far from the Ratchaprasong-centred protests over the last two months exceeds each of the previous crises - the entwined Octobers of 1973 and 1976 and the straightforward pro-democracy uprising in May 1992.

On the other hand, the arson attacks have set back the Bangkok-concentrated capitalist boom by at least a decade. The symbolic damage could be more costly as the knock-on effects on tourism and investment come to the fore.

While all stakeholders assess the mounting costs, several troubling questions warrant clarity in the days during the immediate aftermath of the Ratchaprasong rage and rampage.

First, had the various peace overtures run their course? On the eve of the crackdown, a senate-sponsored peace deal appeared in the works. Leading senators were shown on state-run and army-owned television stations in discussion with the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship.

Perhaps the UDD hardliners hijacked and vetoed the negotiations. Perhaps convicted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra told the UDD hardliners loyal to him to pull the plug. Perhaps the rank-and-file protesters at Ratchaprasong were intransigent to any deal, having been indoctrinated day in and day out on the stage rhetoric of social injustice and al leged murders of their fellow demonstrators from the April 10 clash.

But it was clear that the UDD moderates were intent on standing down. Might more time allotted to them for persuasion of their crowds and bargaining with their opposing hardliners have helped bring a peaceful way out?

And the failures of earlier olive branches need to be explained.

What happened to the promising negotiations brokered by Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra? Was it scuttled by the Thaksin hardliners, rejected by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, or both? Mr Abhisit came up with a five-point peace proposal with a concrete election timetable for November polls just two weeks before street riots spiralled out of control. This proposal was accepted by the UDD with the additional condition that Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban turn himself in to police to own up to the civilian deaths on April 10.

Why did Mr Suthep surrender to the Department of Special Investigations instead of to the police when he was certain to be freed because no charges had been filed against him? Such gamesmanship and leveraging between the two sides have incurred sombre costs in the streets of Bangkok. And why did PM Abhisit withdraw his peace offer and election timetable if he was intent on finding a peaceful exit out of the brinkmanship? This reversal may have strengthened the hand of UDD hardliners and tipped the balance among the UDD leadership towards a more violent outcome.

Second, should the Abhisit government preside over what its finance minister calls a "healing process" when it has been party to the conflict and is culpable for the dead and injured?

Early government noises suggest more pacification policies and campaigns to placate the reds in the countryside. But we have been here before. After the Songkran riots in April 2009, Mr Abhisit pledged reconciliation and reform. The consequent recommendations for con stitutional amendments came to naught. Further antagonism and alienation of the reds have partly brought on the Ratchaprasong protests. He and his government had the entire year in 2009 to bridge the divide and bring the red shirts on side, but the result has been the opposite. What can the Abhisit government do this time that they did not do after the reds' rioted in April 2009?

Third, what now happens to the reds? Having been forcefully dispersed and roundly condemned for the burning of Bangkok, will the rank-and-file reds simp ly go home and sit quietly? For the reds, nothing has changed. They rioted then and now in April 2009 and May 2010. Their grievances remain unaddressed. What they see as injustice, including their systematic disenfranchisement through the judicial dissolutions of their poll-winning parties not once but twice, the banning of their politicians, and the street-based ouster of their elected governments in 2008, persists. Will these claims of injustice be accommodated by the pro-Abhisit coalition? If not, will the reds come to Bangkok in rage again? Or will they resort to underground activities, including an overtly armed insurgency, and establish their own Thailand away from Bangkok in enclaves of the North and Northeast?

Finally, will the arson and looting of the capital be condemned as vehemently in the North and Northeast as in Bangkok? Will the net effect from the protest and crackdown further divide or begin to reconcile Thai society? More questions will emerge while answers will be hard to come by. Picking up the pieces from the last two months will be arduous, and this is all just a beginning.

In the eyes of Bangkokians, the reds are disgraced yet again. But the reds may not care because they no longer accept the Thai state such as it is and the political system it upholds, because the system is seen as rigged and stacked against them.

The onus rests squarely now on the Abhisit government to bring the reds back into the fold beyond Thaksin. Lumping all the reds under Thaksin's long and manipulative tentacles has been a mistake all along. Accommodating the rank-and-file reds and working with their more moderate leaders, including some of the banned politicians from 2007, may offer a way to bypass Thaksin.

If Mr Abhisit is too compromised and tainted for this task, he should consider his position and make a personal sacrifice to enable others to be put in place for the healing to take place.

Who Killed the 6 at the Bangkok Temple?

If you believe the explanation provided by the government spokesman in this video, then I've got a few bridges to sell you.

The Big Picture on Bangkok Protests

Boston Globe The Big Picture rounds up the best photos of the ongoing red shirt protests in Bangkok.

Tiger Woods in Condoms

Bangkok restaurant uses Tiger Woods statue dressed in condoms to promote safe sex. A BANGKOK restaurant promoting safe sex has created a replica statue of golfing star Tiger Woods - dressed in clothing made entirely from condoms. Created by US food and wine author Barbara Hansen, the life-size mannequin is dressed in Nike brand attire all made of condoms.

The mannequin - standing next to a Christmas tree decorated with condoms - wears a pink shirt, orange slacks, yellow cap and shoes, and holds a rubber golf club.

A note is also attached to the statue’s belt buckle which reads: "Let’s do it Tiger".

The restaurant, called 'Cabbages & Condoms', was founded by Thailand's Population and Community Development Association in Bangkok in 1986. It's signature dish is yam tung yang or condom salad, and proceeds from the restaurant's recipe book go to family planning, rural projects, environmental protection, water resource development, scholarship and HIV/AIDS education.

Meanwhile, fallen superstar Woods is set to return to professional golf after taking a break from the sport amid revelations he had a string of affairs.

Godzilla Attacks Bangkok!

Deserted Thonburi Temples

Visitors who enjoy visiting temples in Bangkok, but have seen all the familiar wats in the modern enclaves, may want to cross the river and explore the forgotten and largely abandoned temples of Thonburi. With the aid of a map from 1910, that's exactly what one enterprising professor has been doing the last few years. This Bangkok Post article didn't include a map, but the descriptions are good enough that you should be able to find most of the following temples. I'd advise hiring a tuk tuk and make a day of it.

Eleven deserted wats in Thon Buri reveal the history of communities from the early Ayutthaya period

Published: 14/03/2010 at 12:00 AM

With an adventurous spirit and love for his community, Prabhassara Chuvichean, a lecturer at Silpakorn University's Faculty of Archaeology, set out in search for deserted temples in Thon Buri. He was looking for artistic and archaeological evidence to confirm that temples in Thon Buri on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River are older than those on the east bank, the site of present-day Bangkok.

"It is clear that Thon Buri is the site of an ancient community that dates back several hundreds years to before Bangkok became the capital," Mr Prabhassara said.

He said the Chao Phraya River originally flowed northwards at this point, curved up towards present-day Taling Chan, then turned south and swirled towards Phra Pradaeng and Pak Nam. These areas are where ancient temples and communities were established.

"During my research, I found deserted temples located within the curves of the river and its satellite streams," said Mr Prabhassara, recounting field surveys he conducted in 2006 based on art historian Nor Na Pak Nam's paper, "Silpakam Nai Bangkok" (Art in Bangkok), which explored more than 100 ancient temples in Thon Buri in 1970. He also conducted a comparative study between earlier and the latest versions of maps. The Survey Department's most recent city map marks some temples as deserted, while maps made between 1905 and 1931 mark them as active temples with monks.

"Some deserted temples exist and bear new names, while there are traces of certain missing temples such as the bases of ubosot [ordination halls] and vihara [chapels]. In the end, I found 11 deserted temples in Thon Buri," he said.

The deserted temples are Wat Phoommarin Ratchapaksi, Wat Noi Thongyoo, Wat Suan Sawan, Wat Pikul Nai, Wat Angkula, Wat Kradang-nga, Wat Suwannakhiri, Wat Mai Wichian, Wat Viharn Luang Phor Khao, Wat See Bart and Wat Nak. Their ordination halls, chapels, Buddha images and ruins date from the late Ayutthaya to the early Bangkok period. The most outstanding evidence is a fragment of a red sandstone sema, a boundary marker, found at Wat Nak, a deserted temple on Rama II Road.

In 2006, Mr Prabhassara first explored Wat Phoommarin Ratchapaksi at the mouth of the Bangkok Noi canal near the foot of the Phra Pin Klao Bridge. This temple was merged into Wat Dusidaram during the reign of King Rama VI when only one monk remained there. Its name is stated on a map made in 1910 but it is omitted from the latest version. However, there is evidence to prove its existence.

The temple's ubosoth and vihara remain in place. Their curvy shape reflects the Ayutthaya style. Decorated with stucco art, their roofs, windows and doors are still in excellent condition. The stucco detailing above the entrances are extraordinary.

One of the ubosoth features a peacock fully spreading its wings. Above the chapel's front entrance is a depiction of the god Vishnu riding his garuda. Murals on the interior walls of both buildings feature rows of angels. Their colours are mostly faded. Between both buildings stands a hor trai (dharma library). Behind one of the buildings is a large standing Buddha statue.

Another temple, Wat Noi Thongyoo, was also merged into Wat Dusidaram in 1945 after being destroyed by a bomb blast during World War Two.

"After some exploration, I found a pagoda with five broken tops, north of Wat Dusidaram School near a bus garage at the foot of the Phra Pin Klao Bridge. I believe this is the former site of Wat Noi Thongyoo as it is quite far from Wat Dusidaram. This pagoda is in the early Bangkok period architecture," the archaeologist said.

Later, Mr Prabhassara honed his search for Wat Suan Sawan by using the 1910 map, which indicated it to be behind Wat Kharuehabodi in Bang Phat, opposite Thewes pier.

"First, I thought there would be nothing left. But after walking through the alleyways under Rama VIII Bridge, I saw an alley named Suan Sawan. In there stood Wat Suan Sawan's deteriorating ubosoth," he recalled.

Despite its rotten wooden components, the tiled roof of this ubosoth sports intact stucco art depicting the story of Phra Malai, a monk who visited heaven and spoke with the god Indra. The backdrop is Chedi Chulamanee.

Inside the ubosoth stands the image of the Lord Buddha and some of his followers. The presiding Buddha statue, named Luang Phor Dam, is covered in black lacquer. Behind it are two small windows. The side walls are in the shape of a lotus petal placed upwards, which is similar to the art of the late Ayutthaya period after the reign of King Narai. The ceiling is painted in red and adorned with gold stars. The rarest elements are the granite sema, which were cut and curved to fit each corner of the ubosoth. Two tall Phra Prang-style pagodas, one of which is now in the compound of a house, reflect Bangkok period art.

Mr Prabhassara then looked for the location of Wat Pikul Nai in Bang Bamru, according to the 1910 map. Near the Bang Bamru railway station and the south-bound railroad, he came across a Thai-style pavilion with a sign, "Luang Phor Yai". Inside it are several Buddha statues from the Ayutthaya period. The chairing Buddha statue named Luang Phor Yai is positioned in the mara vichai (subduing Mara) posture. Despite being covered in gold lacquer, it is very likely to be made of sandstone. Behind its base lies a small sema from the late Ayutthaya to early Bangkok period. There are also broken pieces of red bricks dating to the Ayutthaya period. The location of this pavilion matches that of Wat Pikul Nai, which is believed to have been deserted after the construction of the railroad.

While travelling along the Bang Ramat canal in Taling Chan, Mr Prabhassara spotted a sign, "Wat Angkula Rang" (deserted Angkula temple), near Wat Chang Lek. There, a base of what he believes to be an ubosoth as well as an Ayutthaya-style Buddha image named Luang Phor Dam remains. Scattered roof tiles lying nearby date from the middle to late Ayutthaya period.

The archaeologist also tried to find another deserted temple named Wat Kradang-nga. The map of 1910 refers to Wat Kradang-nga as a deserted temple, west of Wat Champa along the Bang Ramat canal. He found no trace, but met a woman who said her house was built during World War II on a plot of land which used to be part of Wat Kradang-nga.

The next temple on the search list was Wat Wichian, or Wat Mai Wichian. It was supposed to be near Tha Phra intersection in Bangkok Yai. Mr Prabhassara walked into nearby fruit orchards and finally saw this temple behind Wat Ratchasittharam. It is no longer a deserted temple as some monks have moved in. However, there is only one vihara left there. Inside the chapel lies a Buddha image, set in the reclining position. His face looks like that of a puppet, in the art style of the early Bangkok period.

Mr Prabhassara later explored the banks of the Bang Chak canal where many temples, including Wat Sala See Na, Wat Bosth, Wat Kampaeng and Wat Thong once stood, according to the map of 1910. He finally found a deserted temple named Wat Suwannakhiri in the compound of the Sutham Suksa School. Now, it is just a religious pavilion with a seated Buddha image dating back to the Ayutthaya period inside. Above its entrance is a sign saying "Suwannakhiri". One of the school owners said this pavilion was the only thing left when her grandfather built this school there.

On another day, Mr Prabhassara started his exploration at Wat Sing on Rama II Road and strolled along the Dan canal. Eventually, he spotted a deserted temple whose real name is unknown. It is called Viharn Luang Phor Khao. Inside the pavilion is a white image of Buddha.

After that, he searched for Wat See Bart, opposite Wat Kok, according to the 1910 map. From Wat Kok, he crossed the Dan canal and found an old structure beneath a new building. Inside this chapel is a Buddha statue called Luang Phor Phet.

It is covered with thick layers of gold leaves. Nor Na Pak Nam called this temple Wat Nak like some people did. He wrote: "There is nothing left but the ruins of Phra Ubosoth on a high mound like those at Wat Kampaeng. The front section of this roofless ubosoth has all collapsed. Remaining there is only a large Buddha image believed to date to the late Ayutthaya period. His face is long and his lap is five-sok [an ancient Thai measurement equivalent to about 50cm] wide. A few headless sandstone Buddha statues were also found scattered on the ground. So was a medium-sized terracotta or red sandstone sema. It is half a sok in height and dates to the late Ayutthaya period, around the reign of King Thai Sra."

As the real Wat Nak is elsewhere, Mr Prabhassara walked further, crossed the Dan canal and entered a community. Behind a house stands a brick building covering the deserted Wat Nak's old ubosoth. In there is a large seated Buddha image named Luang Phor Daeng with a square face and an Ayutthaya-style head. This image is probably made of red sandstone, but it is painted red now.

At Wat Nak, Mr Prabhassara discovered a fragment of a sandstone sema dating to more than 500 years ago. This sema depicts a flora design within a series of triangular and rhombus-shaped frames and an eight-petal flower design on the sides of the base.

"As its art style belongs to the early and middle Ayutthaya period, this sema is considered the oldest artifact discovered in the area," Mr Prabhassara said.

The discovery of the sema also supports the fact that the Dan canal was used by ancient people as a transportation route to the sea during the early and middle Ayutthaya periods, as stated in the Kamsuan Samut, a classical piece of prose written in the Ayutthaya period.

The Dan canal connects the old Chao Phraya River, which is now the Bang Luang canal or the Bangkok Yai canal, and flows southwest to the Tha Cheen River in Samut Sakhon, according to Sujit Wongthes's book, Maenam Lamkhlong Sai Prawattisart.

"The presence of the sema supports the theory that, since the early Ayutthaya period, there must have been communities along this route which linked the Chao Phraya River to other places including Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Marid and Tanao Sri. This confirms the Dan canal has long been used since ancient times," Mr Prabhassara said.

The lecturer concluded that many pieces of artistic and archaeological evidence discovered at these deserted temples in Thon Buri delve into the long history of communities on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. Unfortunately, these temples are now in decay and under natural and human threat, especially the expansion of Bangkok's suburbs.

"The temples, art works and surroundings prove the importance of Thon Buri. However, the rapid changes being made to the area are of serious concern. Condos are mushrooming. Each new road comes at the cost of pagodas. Development is necessary, but we can move slowly and encourage locals to be proud of their communities, heritage and history," Mr Prabhassara said.

Red Shirt Rally in Bangkok -- Video

An amazing display of people attending the UDD red rally in Bangkok. An excellent interactive map by Richard Barrow of Thai-Blogs is here.

Red Shirt Rally in Bangkok -- Videos