If you've lived here long enough, then you've seen the temples and monuments, so there are really only two things left to do in Bangkok: eat and shop. For the last three weeks, though, most Bangkok residents have been entertaining second thoughts about shopping and eating out. It's something we're not used to doing. It's forcing us to find unfamiliar ways to entertain ourselves. Like exercising. Or cooking at home. I tell you, it's unfair. My inalienable right to shop till I drop and dine heartily at restuarants has been interrupted by the red tide of protests.
Last night we didn't go to the Easter Vigil because the Red Shirts decided yesterday to occupy the business district near the church, forcing shopping malls in the area to close down. Since superb restaurants are in the shopping malls, that ended any notion of celebrating the end of Lent with a succulent glazed ham.
The Red Shirts repeated their blood-letting rituals and ceremoniously poured the red stuff at Government House. Afterwards, men in haz-mat suits came out to clean up. It is telling when one person's symbolic act is another's inconvenience. That has been the whole sorry consequence of the protests starting with the Yellow Shirts' infamous 2008 occupation of Government House and the two airports.
Since both the government and the protesters have tried and failed at negotiating an end to the stalemate, there is no telling how or when the protests will end. We just might get used to not shopping and eating out whenever we feel like it. One thing is for sure, though: we'll all be a lot healthier and richer when this rally is over.
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