My Chiang Mai

The city has settled down to normal day-to-day life since the curfew was lifted, with guest houses and budget hotels reporting “business as usual”.

Only the more up-market hotels and restaurants are quieter than normal for June.

Police report that only one foreigner was detained briefly for breaking the curfew, a young tourist who was “drunk and noisy in the street” at 3.00am one night.

Australian Honorary Consul Mike Walther showed great initiative to help northern-based Aussies catch up with affairs following the closure of the Bangkok Embassy for several days. The backlog of official business was cleared in one day, thanks to a flying visit by Second Secretary & Consul Naomi Vowels.

No fewer than 16 Australian nationals took advantage of the unique, one-off service, which was based at The Garden Guesthouse and Restaurant, Rachadamnoen Road.

A firetruck is set alight by protesters in Chiang Mai

After red shirt protesters blocked the main bridge into the city with burning tyres yesterday mid-day, the government announced a night time curfew in Chiang Mai, as well as Bangkok and other cities covered by the ’state of emergency.’

No-one should be on the streets between 9.00pm and 5.00am until Monday morning.

Traffic chaos broke out yesterday when the Nawarat Bridge was blocked, along with the main road into the city from the railway station, where the ‘reds’ erected a stage a week ago and have been assembling since.

Airport Shopping Plaza and Kad Suan Kaew shopping mall closed early afternoon and were followed by Carrefour a few hours later. It is not known if these moves were made due to specific threats, or simply as a precautionary reaction to the burning of the Central World mall in Bangkok. Government schools and many international schools have been closed this week, along with banks and some petrol stations.

Yesterday, a government spokesman gave almost unprecedented English language advice to foreigners on Channel 7 TV.  He said that the problems in Bangkok were being contained, that travel within Thailand was unrestricted and reminded people that, according to Thai law, foreigners should carry their passports with them at all times.

Soldiers inspect the damage at the provincial governor's residence in Chiang Mai

The British Embassy, Bangkok, now closed to the public, yesterday extended its warning “to avoid all but essential travel” from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, mentioning ” a number of violent incidents, some involving gun fire.”

Editor’s Note: The atmosphere in Chiang Mai now is one of quiet frustration rather than tense anxiety. We have had no reports of violence against persons and no gun fire. Some expats here feel that the British Embassy warning is greatly over-cautious with no grounding in fact.

In the early hours of Monday, May 17th, 2 home made bombs were thrown at banks near Chiang Mai city centre.

City police chief Maj. Gen. Sommai Kangwisaisuk said that “futher incitement to the political sitation” was behind the attacks on Siam Commercial Bank, Chang Puak, and Thai Military Bank, Nong Hoi. No injuries and limited damage was caused.

Editor’s Note: Minor night time attacks on banks in the capital have been ascribed to enmity towards the banks major shareholders. The atmosphere in Chiang Mai remains calm and Foreign and Thai tourists are still in evidence.

Thai and expat residents of Chiang Mai were surprised last evening (Thursday) to find that their peaceful province had been included on a list of 15 to suddenly have “emergency law” imposed upon them.

Within a few hours of the shooting of a prominent “red shirt” leader in Bangkok, Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) announced that Chiang Mai and the neighbouring provinces of Chiang Rai to the north and Lampang to the south were now under the “state of emergency.”

The aim of the decision, which enables army and police to restrict people’s movements and gatherings of over a few in any one place, was to “prevent possible red shirt protests”, he said.

Over the past few weeks, small red shirt crowds have briefly – and politely – interrupted traffic flow on minor city streets close to their headquarters hotel near Wat Phrasingh. No other disruption has been seen and the only daily visible signs of local solidarity with the anti-government, pro-Thaksin “reds” are red flags and streamers flying from some local taxis and private cars.

Chiang Mai is at “medium risk” of a drought, the Director General of the national Water Resource Department stated on the 2nd day of the annual water-throwing holiday.

As tens of thousands of litres of water washed down the drains of the province, Kasemsan Chinnavaso said that Chiang Mai, like Lamphun, wasamong 33 provinces at medium risk, while our northerly neighbour Chiang Rai was at “high risk.”

The average rainfall for the past week had been only 8.8 millimetres nationally, he said, and the highest temperature of 43 deg had been registered in both Tak and Kanchanaburi. Forty-one degrees has been seen on some Chiang Mai thermometers.

Our main reservoirs of Mae Kuang and Mae Ngat are well above the levels seen immediately before the last major drought of 2005, when water was cut off to different parts of the city at different times of the day and night. That drought cost the government 7.5 billion baht, said Kasemsan, as it hit 71 of the nation’s 76 provinces.
Today is officially the final day of the “water war”, which originated as a gentle, ceremonial washing of hands of older people to show respect and to encourage the rains to come early.

Editor’s note: There have been renewed calls for the government to restrict water wastage to one or two days at most when drought threatens. This was most effective in Lamphun in 2005 when the then Mayor, Praphat Poocharoen, successfully appealed on behalf of farmers to restrict water throwing to two days.

Article contributed by David Hardcastle, Copyright David Hardcastle 2010

The first water pistols of the annual Songran ‘water war’ were seen at Thapae Gate on Saturday April 10th, and by Monday the 12th the fight was well under way, only one day ahead of the official start of the soggy Thai New Year holiday festival!

Happily for all, the fight is confined only to dowsing your opponents with as much water as you can from pistols, buckets, hoses, canals and gushing blue pipes (free, courtesy of the town hall!).

The liquid free-for-all clogs city centre streets – especially around the moat and particularly Thapae Gate – and will be seen and felt on every road of northern Thailand until Sunday the 18th.

Yes, it’s a traffic hazard, yes, it’s wildly irresponsible and yes, it’s a great way for all ages to cool down at the hottest time of the year.

But most vitally right now: NO it’s not political and NO it has no signs of any violence.

Certainly, more than the usual number of young Thais have flown north to have fun and get away from the tensions of Bangkok, but the only weapons they packed were giant water pistols. You’ll see red flags on some pick-ups and tuk-tuks, and small scarlet ribbons dangling from the mirrors and aerials of cars, but that is as ‘political’ as this festival gets this year.

While Ministers, Embassies and other ‘Agony Aunts’ wring their hands over tragedy and turbulence in the capital, Chiang Mai continues to be a northern world apart. The only thing we are wringing out here is our hair and our shirts. Whatever the colours.

Article contributed by David Hardcastle, Copyright David Hardcastle 2010

“The situation with the demonstrations in Bangkok is now the flash point”, a ‘red shirt’ organiser has told mychiangmai.com in an exclusive interview.
Asked if Chiang Mai – historically the business and power base of the red’s No 1 supporter, ousted Prime Minister Taksin Shinawatra – would be affected, our informant replied.

“The red shirts will never start violence. It is up to the government to solve the problems”

said the middle aged Thai business owner, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“If there is any violence at all, it will be started by the army or the police”

he emphasised.

“Chiang Mai will be peaceful. The whole focus of the protests is Bangkok because that’s where all the decisions are made.”

The man claimed that nothing had been seen recently of the pro-government yellow shirts because “so many of them have realised we are right and now wear red shirts!”

“I hope this will all end peacefully and early elections will be called”

he concluded.

Article contributed by David Hardcastle, Copyright David Hardcastle 2010

Chiang Mai was gently rocked by a magnitude 3 earthquake, today, at 6.45am, with its epicenter in the centre of the city.

Although the quake only lasted 5 to 10 seconds, the quake was sufficiently significant to cause people to dash out onto the street in alarm; however there were no reports of any damage or casualties.

There are nine active fault lines in Thailand, the one near Chiang Mai being the Mae Tha Fault, about 30 kilometres away from the city. About 55 kilometres long, this fault has generated 23 quakes during the past 28 years, the most severe having been a quake of magnitude 5.2 on the Richter scale in December 1995.

Apparently linked to the charges against Pettit, a Buddhist monk and a layman accomplice have been arrested by the same Chiang Mai police team, accused of procuring under-age boys for rent to foreign paedophiles.
Phra Vissanu Tejdhammo of Wat Pa Lan and layman Surasak Kaewman (51) each face 6 charges of sex abuse and taking children away from the control of their parents.

‘Pattaya Daily News’ reported today that police say the monk, while dressed as a layman, would attract children from hilltribe villages and take them to Kaewman’s house in the city. There, Kaewman seduced them before introducing them to clients.

Police say that the monk’s handphone has images of Kaewman having sex with boys, 6 of whom were found in his house when he was arrested. Also found in the house was a baseball bat, electric prod and condoms.

Article contributed by David Hardcastle, Copyright David Hardcastle 2010

Roger Pettit Arrest: The accused mans face is not shown here as he in presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Sixty-seven year old Roger Leslie Pettit from Brighton, England, was arrested at his Chiang Mai condo on Tuesday this week, charged with child sex and drug offences.

Police said that pornographic films and 42 methamphetamine tablets were found in Pettit’s condo.

The arrest could be the first in Thailand since such offences were added to the responsibilities of the Department of Special Investigations, as announced this week by the Justice Minister.

The Ministry has just published a guidebook on the prosecution of foreign alleged child sex offenders which includes guidelines on high bail sums and the seizure of passports.

Pirapan Jalirathavibhaga, Justice Minister, admitted that different Thai agencies had lacked co-ordination and foreign suspects had “used these loopholes” to flee the country, sometimes returning under new names to resume their exploitation.

The DSI had added child sex abuse to its agenda as it “falls within the frame of human trafficking” added Pirapan.

Photographs of the arrest of Pettit by 2 specialist police officers based in Chiang Mai were posted briefly on a national website forum, prior to the whole thread being removed yesterday.

Article contributed by David Hardcastle, Copyright David Hardcastle 2010