TURBULENT TIMES IN THAI TOURISM

A friend who owns an inbound travel agency is understandably frantic. Until yesterday morning the business, which handles almost exclusively Indian tourists coming to Thailand for between 3 and 7 days, has remained unaffected by the political instability and unrest of earlier in the year. According to her the PAD's siege of Suvarnabhumi is a massive step too far - and this from someone who had previously quietly supported attempts to remove the democratically elected government.
"The phones have been ringing off the hook in the office" she told me. "My agents in India want to know what's happening and whether it's safe to send clients. And the clients already here just want to get out. They've come here and, as many Indians tend to do, spent all their money down to the last satang. Now they have nothing. The airlines can't help them so without money they're stranded."
When the ordinary Thai in the street starts to feel the impact of what's happening they'll start to make their voices heard. In my friends case she (jokingly, I hope) wanted to know if I knew anything about guns.