TROUBLE IN TOWN

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We could hear the sound of gunfire from our hotel. Earlier in the day our tuk tuk had been prevented from crossing the main square because of the barriers keeping the throngs of red-shirted protesters back from the main government buildings. The atmosphere was volatile and thus dangerous. The mood of the protesters was one of a a simmering discontent mainly with the curent political situation. As I stood on our balcony with dusk falling, I wondered if the night would pass without tragedy. The answer was no.

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The day had begun almost normally. The night before we had spent at Joe's eating superb Thai food and at last enjoying a beer or two. We could hear from the restaurant, just around the corner from the main square, the sounds of political address, imploring the people to rise up against the government.

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In the morning we had an excellent buffet breakfast and Trish Ali and I set off for the huge electrical retail complex where on five floors, each the size of a football pitch, everything audio, visual and computing is for sale. From our hotel, we traveled accross town in a Tuk Tuk. This is the quickest way of getting aroud

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A tuk tuk, from Sweden perhaps?
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the city. Ideal for three people and driven by a noisy 150 c.c. motorcycle engine, this three wheeled vehicle and thousands like it, zooms precariously around the streets honking and sqeezing itself through gaps to small for cars. Some of them have been customised, sporting alloy whees, multicoloured seats and logos. It has one wheel at the front, a set of motorcyle like handlebars, which the driver clings determindly to, as he weedles his way towrds his destination. It is a ride of fairground dodgem proportions. As it only has this one wheel at the front, it's turning circle is tight to say the least, and as we pulled up in front of the shopping centre, we were nearly cast from the machine as it u-turned to a halt.
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Once inside the centre, the scale of it hit home. Everwhere you looked there were shops selling electricals. Of course everything could be bartered for, even down to brand spanking new cameras and computers. We spent five hours in there, purchasing everything from a lovely new SLR camera for Ali at a knockdown price, to brand new, just released movies for Trish and myself. We also picked up software for my Mac and gadgets galore. At the end of the day we climbed into another Tuk Tuk for the journey across the city home.

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As we approached Government square, we were stopped by riot barriers. Our driver would go no further. Crowds, dressed in red shirts, thronged the area. Masked protesters armed with long poles were dealing with the cctv cameras that were spying on the congregated mass. There was nothing for it but to cross the square, dodging through barriers and surrealy being clapped by the protesters as we went. I was nervous, I knew it could take only one trigger happy over motivated participant to start a dangerous confrontation. With relief we reached the other side of the square. Shops were closing early, metal shutters were going up, businesses were taking no chances. There was a simmering air of unease.

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In the evening we ventured out through the unusually deserted tourist shopping area. The hotel manager urged us, as we departed, to be careful. Where yesterday at 11.30 at night there were people everywhere giving the city a unique atmosphere, tonight there was the sounds of gunfire and a helicopter patrolling overhead. We headed down darkened allyways towards Joes again where we enjoyed a night of relative peace and quiet until the journey home. As we made our way back to our hotel, we were overtaken by countless ambulances and pick up trucks, taking the injured, and as we found out later, the dead to hospital. What more of a contrast could one have from this time last week?