My Chiang Mai

For the next few weeks, drivers north of the city centre are advised to steer clear of the road running up the west side of the River Ping between Superhighway and the Central Ring Road. Half of it has fallen into the river.

Something went seriously wrong with earthworks where a small canal ran into the Ping recently, and a resident’s garden and half the busy north-south route fell into the water.

Contractors are working on the problem, but meanwhile, all traffic is diverted through very narrow village lanes, away from the large hole where the road used to be.

Drivers are advised to use the parallel road on the river’s east side, through Faham, in an attempt to avoid delays.

Sixty-two year old Australian William Thomas Douglas (also known as Bill Douglas), convicted in 2008 of the shooting murder of 46 year old Hawaiin American Garry Poretsky, is one of many prisoners held in Bangkok to be granted a Royal Amnesty. He is due to be deported to Australia on June 16th.

Douglas, a Vietnam veteran who claimed to work undercover for Thai police seeking drug offenders, and who was known to carry an unlicensed gun, shot Poretsky 3 times after an all night drinking session at the Keari bar and restaurant.

After Douglas pleaded guilty, the dead man’s family was shocked to hear of the sentence of just 2 years 9 months. The amnesty covering many prisoners in Klong Prem jail effectively cut that sentence by 6 months, despite reports that Douglas had started a fight in jail, spent time in solitary confinement and threatened 4 Thai-resident Australians.

Sources close to the case say that Douglas, who speaks Thai fluently, has strongly resisted the deportation order and expected to be freed to return to Chiang Mai and his long-term Thai girlfriend.

Editor’s Note: The motive for the murder was never clear, though there were suggestions that Douglas decided, with no evidence, that Poretsky was a drug dealer, a theory which has since been supported in some blogs from fellow Hawaiians. Two of the 4 Australians allegedly named by Douglas as his next victims have already left Thailand in fear of their lives. There is speculation that Douglas may be intercepted on arrival by Australian authorities to be given psychiatric tests.

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.

Despite a desperate plea by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the UK Foreign Office is advising against travel to Thailand, including Chiang Mai.

The advice on the FCO website reads:

We advise against all but essential travel to the whole of Thailand due to the increasingly volatile and tense political situation.  Violent incidents of an unpredictable nature are occurring in many parts of Thailand.

and

In the last week, protests and violent incidents have taken place in other parts of Thailand including popular tourist destinations such as Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Ayuthaya and other locations. See the Terrorism Security section of this Travel Advice.

As a result ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) has warned travelers that if they travel to Thailand in spite of the FCO advice their  travel insurance policies will be invalidated.

The TAT said: ‘We accept the advice against traveling to Bangkok. Although the protests are not aimed at tourists, there is major disruption. But we do believe it is excessive to advise against travel to the rest of the country.’

This article text is Copyright © MyChiangMai 2010, no reproduction without prior permission.

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