Pictures taken by Mark Richardson Coup D'etat In Bangkok Thailand and Mark is There in the Heart of the City
Mr. Mark's mom, at the beauty shop, suddenly got calls on her cell phone; people calling to report that tanks were surrounding Bangkok as part of a coup d'etat. It was the middle of the Bangkok night (12 hours difference in Austin Texas and Bangkok time), but Mr. Mark was up watching TV when his mom called to check on the situation there. He knew nothing of the coup or the tanks as the Thai TV news was not being shown at that time. The stations normally having ongoing news were not available. A little latter the news was on in Bangkok. We soon learned the banks, schools, and government offices would be closed. There were tanks and road blocks around the city. At first the flights out seemed to be cancelled and Mark is due to fly to Chang Mai on another adventure in just a few hours. The Baht is falling in value some and Mark called his old room mate from Dallas who is a bank examiner and asked him about whether he would be better off to pay bills in dollars or baht. Next, Mark decided to see if he could get a taxi and go take some pictures. He was excited to be in Bangkok in the middle of a coup and reminded me that he and I had been in Saipan typoon Chaba and he had been in on the erruption of a volcano somewhere and we had volunteered in Honduras after a hurricane and wasn't he lucky to be where the action was so often? He soon learned that Thailand had experienced a coup about 15 years ago and the local people were not excited about this one and in fact some Thais had told him to go to sleep and not worry about it. He thinks he will be able to fly to Chang Mai on a two day trip, which is another adventure he is getting in while he is still able. Mark thrives on adventures. He is in Thailand to close out his condominium lease and give away some belongings and pack a few others. He had to give a two month notice in order to get a deposit back and is scheduled to come back to Austin for good on or before the 14th of November. He is not sure his cancer situation will let him stay that long....but isn't he lucky to be in on this major happening/adventure in Thailand: a coup d'etat?