For anyone planning to visit Thailand... here's the situation without
all the US Embassy and news fluff.

If this is your first trip to Thailand, I highly suggest you do not
come to Bangkok.  Everywhere else is OK.  You can land at Bangkok
airport and then take buses or taxis to Pattaya (most popular) or Hua
Hin (second most popular).

If you have been to Thailand before, then it's OK to come to Bangkok.
Just realize that the major malls are closed.  Patpong nightmarket
(DON'T GO TO SILOM/SALA DAENG) is closed.  The skytrain was purposely
blocked this morning and has been closing early for the past several
days.  Majority of downtown Bangkok is controlled by the red shirt
protesters... tourists are free to wander into the camp, but you
definitely don't want to be in the crossfire when and if the army
comes in.

On the flip side, it's real easy to get a hotel room now!

Police and military checkpoints are strewn throughout the city.
Everyone is locked and loaded.

I'm here covering the protests for an international news channel and
I've had two real close calls.

http://vimeo.com/...

-- 
Humphrey Cheung

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