My Thailand Blog by Richard Barrow

Earlier today I went for a walkabout around Red Camp which stretches four directions from the Ratchaprasong Intersection in Bangkok. This is the heart of the shopping district which has been hard hit by the protests.

This first picture I took on the normally busy Rama I Road in front of Siam Paragon. It is now a walking street with cars parked down one side. In the middle are shelters. As you can see there are also vendors selling food, clothes and sunglasses!

Has the battery for your mobile phone gone dead? No worries says this vendor. He will recharge it for you for only 10 baht!

This area in front of Central World, the biggest mall in Thailand, is usually packed with people. Today it was empty.

At the rally site, I was surprised to see so many monks among their numbers. This monk was taking a nap. Others have been pictured armed with spears.

Several places around the protest site, people were watching video clips of the deadly clashes and also looking at pictures of the dead people. This display was on the window of Zen Department Store.

The Red Guards are concerned about snipers that might try and take out their leaders. I often saw spotters scanning the high buildings in this area.

A picture of the normally busy Rama I Road near Central World. There are usually traffic jams here all day and every day.

This final picture shows a Red Guard searching a motorcycle before allowing entry to the Red controlled area. You can view more of my live pictures that I uploaded today to the Internet during my walakbout over at TwitPic. You can also follow me on Twitter for live news and pictures.

- Posted from my iPhone

This morning I went on a five hour walk to inspect the Red Shirt fortifications at the four roads leading away from Ratchaprasong Intersection.

Before I start, I want to remind people that the barbed wire pictured here is sharp! Do not touch it to see how sharp it is! While I was there taking pictures,  three people walked up to the razor sharp wire to touch it. Don’t!

This is the biggest and strongest of all the red shirt fortifications. It is at the Sala Daeng Intersection directly south of Ratchaprasong. It has tyres, bamboo poles and netting. It also looks like that some kind of fuel has been poured over it. There is no car access here to Ratchadamri Road.

This is the fortification at the Phaya Thai Intersection in front of MBK, West of Ratchaprasong. Beyond this picture is Siam Discovery which is still closed. The barricade only has tyres and doesn’t really look that strong. They have one lane open for traffic. All motorcycles coming in here were searched.

This is now North of Ratchaprasong at the Phetchaburi Intersection. This one was more substantial with two sets of barricades which had tyres and sandbags. They were searching motorcycles coming in here. They even had a metal detector for checking bags! There was no room for cars here.

This last picture is East of Ratchaprasong at the Phloenchit Intersection. This one had a lot of long bamboo poles sticking out. Further back they had two big trucks blocking the road but there was room for a car to squeeze past. They weren’t searching vehicles here.

- Posted from my iPhone

This afternoon I drove over to Wat Bang Ya Phraek in Phra Pradaeng District of Samut Prakan to take pictures at their annual parade of the pinnacles for the sand pagodas.

About 11 communities took place in this parade with close on 1,000 people attending. Really it was just “wien tien” around the temple grounds, three times in a clockwise direction. But, as there were so many people, it took nearly an hour for all of them to finish.

During the parade they were carrying various things in order to make merit and also for decorating their sand pagoda. The spire, or pinnacle, in Thai is called “yot chedi” and was carried at the front of each group. This was then placed at the top of the pagoda as you can see them doing in this picture.

Each group had their own musical band and the sound was at times very deafening. In addition there was also the occasional firecracker. By the time all of the groups had come together in this small area to decorate their pagoda, the air was thick with the smell of burning incense sticks. Very chaotic atmosphere but also very enjoyable. I will post more pictures on www.paknam.com later.

- Posted from my iPhone

My three day trip to the South of Thailand with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is now coming to an end. I had a great time doing product testing for quality tourists in Trang and Satun.

The time went very quickly but at the same time it is hard to believe it has been only three days. Feels like weeks as we packed in so much in such a short period of time.

It is difficult to mention highlights as it was all so good. The white sandy beaches, the crystal clear water, the colouful coral and fish, and of course the snorkelling was all excellent. I would love to go again and spend more time.

I am now on the plane flying back home to Bangkok. I know that many Western nations are now advising their nationals about coming to Bangkok at the moment. But, as far as I am concerned, Thailand is safe. In fact, I would much prefer to be in Bangkok now than any other Western city that is having protests or riots.

I have seen nothing but white sandy beaches and Thai smiles the last few days in Thailand. The only Reds that I have seen are foreign tourists who have been out in the sun too long. I wish to thank the TAT for inviting me on this trip and being such kind hosts as usual. I will be posting longer reports on the trip at www.thai-blogs.com later this week with pictures from my DSLR. All the pictures on this moblog were taken with my iPhone.

- Posted from my iPhone

Our last stop on the 3 day TAT trip to the south was the Peninsular Botanical Gardens in Amphoe Muang, Trang.

The highlight here was the impressive canopy walkway that takes you up to the tree-tops. It is open every day from 8.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.

It was built back in 2003, with six observation towers at various heights. The walkway is about 175 metres long with three different heights.

The height of the first walkway is about 10 metres above ground level. The second is about 15 meters high and the final level is 18 metres high.

We had some great treetop views that allowed us to view the vegetation close-up and also made it easier to spot wildlife. The best thing about the botanical gardens is that it is free! If you get a chance then do visit this place.

- Posted from my iPhone

Our next stop on day 3 was the small island of Koh Khai.

This is a picture of the speedboat that we have been using the last two days. It is owned by Sita Resort but our tour was arranged by Pink Star Tour.

You should be able to see in this picture how beautiful the water is here. The sand is pure white. The picture shows some of the TAT staff that came with us.

There is no-where to stay here but quite a few people stop briefly to enjoy the snow white beach and to take pictures at the natural rock arch seen below.

- Posted from my iPhone

Our next island on day 3 of the TAT trip was Koh Tarutao.

This is the largest in the group of 51 islands in the national marine park. It is 26.5 km long and 11 km wide.

The island is covered in green rain forests and surrounded by sandy beaches. The topography is mainly mountainous.

We only had a brief inspection of the facilities here. You can rent bungalows for as cheap as 500 baht for 4 people or rent a tent for 225 baht. There is plenty to do with walking trails and you can rent bicycles for 250 baht per day. There is even reasonably priced Internet.

The island is most famous for it’s prison that dates back to 1938. Due to a food shortage during the last war, the wardens and the prisoners joined together to become blood-thirsty pirates. I will write in more detail about this later over at www.Thai-Blogs.com.

- Posted from my iPhone

Early on the morning of day 3 of our TAT trip to Trang and Satun, we sadly checked out of our beach resort after only one night. I would have loved to have spent longer on Koh Lipe, which is in Tarutao National Marine Park.

Before leaving we went to do a site inspection of Sita Beach Resort & Spa on the Western end of Pattaya Beach.

This is obviously aimed at more upmarket tourists as these rooms alongside the swimming pool are 4,400 baht per night.

They had done a good job with landscaping. I was impressed. Further back they have two bedroom apartments at 14,000 baht and 19,000 baht. The latter has it’s own private pool.

- Posted from my iPhone

On day two of our TAT trip to do product testing for quality tourists, we checked out of our hotel in Trang and drove 90 minutes further south to Satun.

Our destination was Pak Bara Pier which is the jumping off point for people who want to take a boat to Tarutao National Park. This was the first marine park in Thailand. There are 51 islands though only 7 are of significant size. As it is the weekend there were a lot of Thai people there.

These first two pictures were taken at Koh Rawi. Everyone was here on a day-trip as there are no places to stay. We were there to eat lunch and also to snorkel in the crystal clear water. The coral was impressive even though it wasn’t far from the white powdery sand.

After Koh Rawi we went back on the boat to explore some of the smaller islands. Many of these were used in the old days as bases for pirates. We stopped in about three locations to go snorkelling. Including this beautiful stone island below.

As expected the crystal clear water, the colourful coral and fish gave us all a wonderful experience that we won’t forget for a while. We are now staying at a resort on Koh Lipe.

- Posted from my iPhone

This evening we checked in at the beautiful beachside resort called Bundhaya. It is on the island of Koh Lipe in the Tarutao National Marine Park in Satun.

Koh Lipe is one of the few islands that has hotels and resorts. There is an old fishing village here too, so much of the island is privately owned. For some reason they have a beach called Pattaya Beach and even a Walking Street. But it is less crowded and a lot less sleazy.

Bundhaya Resort has 114 bungalows/rooms with 9 different categories. The cheapest is at 1,200 baht with adjoining rooms with fan only. We were each given our own bungalows which we were told cost 1,600 per night with air and hot water. There are of course much cheaper places on the island. And some a lot more expensive.

This is a picture showing the view of the Eastern end of Pattaya beach from our resort restaurant. As you can see there are sun-loungers being used by foreign tourists. Actually, I was surprised to see more Thais here than foreigners.

After we had checked in and showered, we went for a walk to the other side of the island to do a site inspection of Mountain Resort. We went down Walking Street first which had all the usual facilities such as convenience stores, restaurants, Internet cafe and travel agents. I guess you can compare this to Koh Phi Phi but it is a lot less crowded. Someone said it is like Koh Samui 30 years ago. I will post a fuller report when I get home at www.thaitravelblogs.com.

- Posted from my iPhone

Our final hotel inspection on day one of this TAT trip for the media and travel agents was Sevenseas Resort on the beautiful Koh Kradan.

This hotel has 32 villas with beach-front views. The prices range from 6,000 to 15,000 baht.

This island is blessed with powdery white sand and crystal clear water. After visiting this hotel we took the boat down the coast a short way to a place we were able to go snorkelling and experience the beautiful coral close-up.

We also went to visit the nearby Than Morakot or Emerald Cave. I will write in more detail about this cave later on www.Thai-blogs.com. But I will say here that the 80 meter long swim through a pitch black tunnel until we came out at a secret beach was pretty amazing!

- Posted from my iPhone