-- Today, (16th.), afternoon tee-rak & I walked along Rama IV. rd. to HUA LAMPONG rly. stn. - just to make a change from looking-in at the so-called 'war zone.'.
- Police barriers in the gen'l. area of the i'sect. by WAT HUALAMPONG/C'CHURI. SQ.; no tfc. was being allowed along Phya Thai rd., (it leads to SIAM SQ. & to the red shirts controlled area.),.
- From the MANDARIN BKK. HTL. and for the next couple or so hundred yds. taxis, tuk-tuks & other civilian cars were parked three & four deep across the OUTGOING carriageway; on the side-walk, amongst a few Thai nat'l. flags & some blue ones, was a motley array of civilians standing, looking & chatting, amongst them I noticed at least a couple of BKK's. Finest looking quite at ease. The objects of att'n. were men rolling tyres along the carriageway in the dir'n. of Cent'l. BKK. - presumably to make a barrier of some sorts?
-- At the rly. stn. - where we saw that the MRT. stn. was CLOSED - I was given to u'stand. that quite a few trains to & from the N. & the NE. had been cancelled by the SRT..
-- Walking-back, on the INBOUND side of the rd. we were stopped by Chula 11. by some man or other. I asked tee-rak who this man is, what is his auth'y. and what was he saying? Tee rak is not at his best in such sit'ns. and I was left guessing something or other about unidentified men in black farther along the rd. However, after a minute or two some little olde lady nipped spryly across the central divide and info'd. us that it would be quite alright to go on.
- By WAT H'LAMPONG. we saw both the mil'y. & the police looking-at the scene through their binoculars; quite why, seeing as they were looking in the dir'n. whence we'd come, no-one had the wit to ask us about what was going-on I don't know; possibly a farang & his boi weren't deemed to be sufficiently reliable enough sources of info.?
- We passed-by the DUSIT THANI HTL. I'sect. at about 17oo.hrs. - surprisingly enough there was no background rhetoric from the red shirts' encampment. We did see smoke arising from some burning tyres at the U-turn under the Thai-JP. flyover.
- Walking along Si Lom rd. we saw stacks of bottled & drinking water and the police & mil'y. enjoying their evening meal from styro. containers. Patriotic music was being played from the mil'y. veh. parked near to BTS. Sala Daeng stn., (S2.),.
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