- Today, 13th, at approx. 18.3O.hrs., I took the BTS. from On Nut, (E9.], where both printed and oral announcements info'd. us PAX. that BTS. Ploen Chit, Chit Lom, Siam & R'damri. stns. were CLOSED; usual apologies etc. etc..
I detrained at BTs. R'thewi., (N1.], and walked-back.
- At the side ent'ce. to SIAM DISC'Y. CNTR. a small scuffle as some man wearing. a [COLOR = "SeaGreen"] green & knitted hat [/ COLOR]. tried to force his way IN and was being restrained by IN-house gds.; riot-police siting nearby disregarded that.
- Basically from the start of the red shirts' encampment at SDC. all the way to the R'damri.: Rama IV. i'sect. plenty of people walking hither & yon - nottoo purposefully for many of them, possibly MORE as something to do, I thought; but from time-to-time small gps. of men, with many wearing m/c. crash-helmets & carrying either batons or staves were walking either towards the R'prasong. i'sect. or away from it & towards tnn. Rama IV., (wch. put me in mind of The Grand Old Duke of York, ...!].
- I was struck by the gen'l. & pervasive. smell of urine, pools of water on the gd. & piles of rubbish, especially o'side. the POLICE GEN'L. HOSP'L. at R'prasong; an o'all. lack of public hygiene.
- Street-lighting along tnn. R'damri. turned-off.
- Several large screens shewing red shirts' orators speaking and, in one case, singing; but v. few people watching, although one could not help but hear what. was being said.
- Every so often barriers ready to be drawn across tnn. R'damri., with mostly black clad gds. at hand, that became MORE noticeable the closer I approached. the ent'ce./exit. by MRT. Silom; quite often I was taken by the hand & conducted along the way; the word Farang serving to act as an 'Open, sesame.' and to get me through the barriers until I was on tnn. Rama IV ..
- Little if any rd.-tfc. in the area of the DUSIT THANI HTL ..
- MRT.Silom CLOSED; tee rak info'd. me that MRT. Lumpini & Sam Yan were CLOSED, too.
- No police or mil'y. seen in the gen'l. area of the DT. HTL. & o'side. the former ROBINSON'S; although three Black Marias were parked o'side. the ZUELIG. Bldg ..
- Along tnn. Si Lom. [COLOR = "Orange"] orange colored & plastic barriers [/ COLOR]. across the rd. by Tnn. Saladaeng. Similar barriers at intervals across both carriage-ways father along; a greater & armed mil'y. presence farther along, too.
- Most of the shops along tnn. Si Lom were CLOSED, although Pizza Hut & 7/11. were OPEN.
- Silom 4. was dark; P. Pong 1 night mkt's. stalls. were. being taken-down as were all of the poor but honest side-walk vendors' stalls along tnn. Si Lom; P. Pong 2 at its Silom end was dark but appeared to be in business towards tnn. S'wong.?
- In Silom 6 only the Indian & the Ch. eating houses were OPEN; PRIME MASSAGE had barriers across its frontage. MANGO TREE was OPEN, but COCA REST'T. was CLOSING-DOWN as we passed-by at approx. 21.3O.hrs..
-- Possibly the above was 'All sound & fury but signifying nothing.'?
-- E & OE .. Apologies for any typos., but gremlins seem to have taken control of my laptop, despite several attempts at editing in an endeavor to get rid of them!
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