Subscribe RSSMy first skill of Bangkok was in 1995. I felt as if I had stepped on to the set of Blade Runner ; a scattered and disjointed fusion of skyscrapers and tangled neon-soaked streets bustling with existence. It left me electrified and entranced. Six years later, I made this city my home.
Friends were envious. I was excited. No one was lesson me against it. "Bangkok is much safer than London" has been my recurrent refrain whenever asked about living in this sprawling capital. However, while I may have been mugged in my hometown of London, I have never seen anyone conjecture there by a sniper.
At least 70 people have been killed and well over a thousand injured in recent political violence in Bangkok. Areas of the urban district were turned into a war zone as troops battled with protesters for more than five days before finally – and brutally – crushing the redshirt "freedom fighters".
To suggest that this chaos and destruction came as a surprise would be disingenuous. I have had serious misgivings about the state of affairs in Thailand for several years, but have, like many others, pushed them to one side lest they retard with my enjoyment of the weather, lifestyle and, of course, the food that has kept me so content in this country for nearly a decade.
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