Another quiet day in the village

Things appear to be quieting down in Bangkok after yesterday's intense activity. Most of the Red Shirt leaders turned themselves over to the police and are now in custody with charges of terrorism. The majority of other protesters seem to be on their way home and sadly, with many dead and injured. Many locations around Bangkok were burned to the ground including a TV station, banks, movie theaters, hotels, and my favorite mall, Central World, which recently opened Thailand's first Gap clothing store and a Cold Stone Creamery. I don't intend to make light of the situation, but that's sad. I was never able to visit either place. I love ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery and Gap was my once chance of finding pants that actually fit me in Thailand. After typing that I realize how those two thoughts don't quite go together. Anyway...

Unfortunately, the situation is still extremely tenuous as it seems groups of Red Shirt protesters have started burning government buildings around Isaan, the region I live in. My province is one of 24 provinces which are in a state of emergency and a part of the curfew. The curfew was extended for 3 more days, from 9pm to 5am. This doesn't make any difference for me, since I'm always safely tucked inside my house by 6pm everyday.

At this point no one really knows what's going to happen next. Things could either escalate, which I'm not sure what that would mean for the rest of my PC service, or go back to normal like this never happened. Despite the calm and tranquility of my village, I feel tense and anxious about all of this. I realized that Americans have the luxury of trusting the government system to work. Despite issues we may have with Republicans and Democrats in office, we trust the system to be accountable and generally responsive to it's constituents. That is not the case in Thailand as the political system suffers from deep rooted corruption and lack of accountability. People don't trust the system and as a result, protests and rioting occur. Yet again this experience in Thailand is providing me the opportunity to reflect and learn more about my world view. Now I'm just rambling.

Another quiet day in the village.