As we get ready for our typical escape to SE Asia and talk about it with friends and family it seems like lately the conversation usually goes like this:

Them: You’re going where?

Me: Thailand

Them: Are you sure? There was a coup there.

Me: Yes, it is no big deal.

Them: The news says there is violence in the streets and the people are protesting against the junta government.

Me: The western media is sensationalizing it like usual, it is not at all like the news portrays.

Them: Weeell ok, be careful…..

It is hard to explain what is really happening in Thailand without understanding decades of Thai politics (which even seems like a maze of twisty passages to me and I have tried to do a fair bit of reading on the subject) but the simple version is that politically the country is divided almost perfectly in half and whatever party is in power the other half is unhappy.

Unhappiness in Thailand usually means almost nothing that you can see – the people all go to work, and everything is business as usual. Occasionally as an important date or an election year approaches the political chatter moves from quite corners and table conversation to something more visible – large protests usually financed by the party wishing to make some noise. Sometimes it even escalates to some isolated incidents of violence – and that is what makes the news.  99% of the time you can likely find more violence in South Seattle than in the streets of Bangkok, but we are so used to it here that no-one talks about it.

In talking to some of our friends who live there about what is going on, they chuckle and tell us that we are probably taking a bigger risk with the surly flight attendant on the way over, or the in-flight meal than we are in walking down the street in Thailand 😀

In fact I am likely in more danger from the raccoon that often walks through the yard and sometimes sits right at the back door:

The reality is that it is much closer to the photo below – the western news media’s version on the top, and the local Thai people’s version on the bottom:

We certainly plan to be doing much of what the people on the bottom are doing 😉

At any rate, we appreciate people looking out for us and we definitely feel safe where we are going, and would quickly change our plans if we thought there was any risk.  We always travel with a backup plan to go quickly to a different area or neighboring country if we ever feel at all in a risky situation – so far we have never had to resort to plan B.

My biggest concern at the moment is how soon I will be able to find a decent massage after arrival….