Day 2 - City of Angels

Perspective is a funny thing. From the 21^st floor of my father’s apartment, Bangkok is calm, perhaps almost serene. Traffic is a distant hum and the smell and the smog barely registers as I look out across the vista of gleaming skyscrapers and rusting slums. Nothing remarkable about this, Asia is a continent of dramatic contrasts and inequality. What foreigners do always remark upon is how happy the Thai people are, Thailand, land of smiles, land of the free.

And no doubt the Thai people have a lot to smile about, our borders are secure, our economy is in recovery and our food is friggin’ fantastic.

There is a profound sense of order in Thai society, a strict hierarchy that keeps people in their place but with just enough wiggle room for the talented and determined to rise above their class. Still, the richest 20% of the population owns 70 times more wealth than the bottom 20%.

The crisis with Red and Yellow is a class struggle. What many of the Yellow shirts don’t seem to understand or acknowledge is that the Reds are a symptom, not the cause of the country’s unrest. Thaksin the exiled may have lit the fire but the fuel has been building up for a long time.

From where I am standing, high above the city looking down, I can see how many of Elites can forget this. I can’t help but think of the Thai Buddhist’s idea of heaven. In traditional Thai culture, enough good karma will cause you to be born in heaven as a Deva (angel), to be a Deva is to live in paradise and have all your desires fulfilled. Being a Deva is better than being human in every single way, except angels can’t reach enlightenment. Never suffering means remaining in blissful state of ignorance and never having to understand the reality of the human condition. The Thai name for Bangkok is ‘Krung Thep’, literally,‘City of Angels’.

So what now? I am certainly not naïve enough to think that every Elite is a heartless snob and every red shirt a simple poor honest farmer from upcountry. Many understand that for Thailand to move forward we must move towards greater equality and Thaksin and his followers have certainly inspired (if not directly ordered) some pretty atrocious actions that have increased the divide, not close them. Bridges aren't completely burnt though, the main vibe I'm getting from the population is simply a calm anticipation. There are talks of talking, it's not much, but it's enough for most people to cling on to.