I have not been in BKK during the last 2 months, probably a fortunate thing. But I am familiar with the city, especially the areas where the redshirt occupation took place, as well as the gay areas.

Hence I wish to express great appreciation to khun sextile for his detailed observations. I felt that by reading his posts, I had an understanding of what was happening in those areas that I knew better.
I'm not sure that he was always as prudent as he may have been regarding his wanderings, but I really enjoyed reading his reports.
Well done sir.

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-- Today, (23rd.), a'noon. tee rak & I went for our usual walk-about:
- We looked-in at Silom 4. and saw that the T'PHONE. PUB. was set-up and there were several prs. of customers enjoying refreshments; THE BALCONY BAR was in process of being set-up - tee rak, (at my insistence), asked when they would be CLOSING tonight and was told at 22.oo.hrs..
- Farther on we saw a Sec. Gd. leaning-over SILCOM's hoarding; in reply we were told that SILCOM. would RE-OPEN 241030.hrs..

-- Around the KRVI. statue all of the forenoon's tentage had been struck-down; the PK. would remain CLOSED until monday morning; the whole area was generally deserted.

-- We walked-along R'damri. rd. all the way to the PRATUNAM I'sect. with no hindrances; in fact we noted howmuch work the BMA. laborers must have done to clean-away all of the red shirts' debris & remains.
- I am not unaware that many of us farangs have been known to mutter 'TIT.' - often with teeth clenched; or else we shrug our shoulders in an 'Mai pen rai.' gesture at another perceived failing wch. would never ever happen in our own home-countries; but this time one should give the BMA. their due for the speed with wch. they've cleaned-up & removed the trash.
- Just short of Sarsin rd. we watched a fireman atop a long & extending ladder removing the antennas from the red shirts' aerial. I asked a fireman how high the man was and was told that the ladder could reach UP as far as 150ft..; my off-the-cuff calculations - based on the distance from the ladder's pivot to the base of the aerial, approx. 42ft., and the Angle of Dangle as shewn on the ladder's Inclinometer, approx. 65degrees, - put the man UP at around 92ft.. Another fireman, in the trolley that rides UP & DOWN tracks on TOP of the ladder was having his photo. taken by one of his companions, I made a 'Smile, please.' gesture at him, at wch. he broke-out into a broad smile. We chatted in Thaiglish; he asked me if I wanted to join him in going-up? I mentioned that when I was in my early thirties I had worked atop a 200ft. electricity-type pylon, (using my hands in explanation to supplement my vastly inadequate Thai.), and thus heights were no problem to me.

-- In the burnt-out space between ZEN TWR. & C'WORLD. a couple of fire-hoses were playing still; the ent'ce. was blocked-off to keep-out all non-essential pers..

-- At the R'PRASONG. I'sect., (the S'vit. rd.), a largish gp. of volunteers was working alongside the BMA. workers in scrubbing the rd. and structures along it.
- Between the I'CONN. HTL. & CENTRAL - C. LOM were three BMA. water-trucks, with one of them hosing-down the supports for the o'head. skywalk with a large gp. - a rough count of maybe as many as a couple of hundred - helpers who were hard at work; in the usual Thai way they'd turned it into MORE of a work-fest., thus most were working-away in good spirits: laughing & joking even as they toiled. Other volunteers were circulating and were distributing cold drinking water.

-- Tee rak & I walked along Wireless rd. to the Br. Embassy, wch. - not unsurprisingly - was CLOSED tighter than the proverbial fish's a***hole.

-- We walked-back around LUMPINI PK., along Si Lom rd. and back to the app't. - arriving just before the rains did!

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Hi Sextile,

Enjoyed ur daily update of the CBD, thank you.

One minor point, the road starting from Thannon Sukhumvit (soi 1) to Thanon Ratchadamri is called Thanon PloenChit, no longer Thanon Sukhumvit.

Regards.

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-- Quite correct; corr'n. gladly accepted - happy to see that my postings are subject to such scrutiny!

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-- From a box on the front page of today's BKK. Post. 'paper.:

- Today 'buses. will run between 05.30.-20.oo.hrs.;
- Canal boats along Khlong San Saep: ditto;
- BTS.: 06.-20.oo.hrs.;
- MRT.: 06.-21.oo.hrs..

-- Tonight's curfew's hrs. are expected to be 23.-04.oo.hrs.;
- The CRES., (Cntr. for Reaction to the Emgy. Sit'n. ), will review the sit'n. on a day-to-day basis.
- Police & mil'y. patrols will be out on some of BKK's. streets purely as a precautionary measure.

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Good news, I can go home soon.

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-- Y'day., (23rd.), evening tee rak & I supped in THE BALCONY BAR, (that would be just after 20.hrs.), also OPEN were THE T'PHONE. PUB. & SOUVLAKI REST'T..
- For both the BALCONY & T'PHONE. many of the o'side. tables were taken, but indoors THE BALCONY wasn't so busy. Most of the customers were farangs - few Thais, either boyz or adults, seen.

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