Over the past year or so I’ve been invited by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to emcee media events such as this year’s Ultimate Thailand Explorer’s Challenge. In addition, I’ve also had the good fortune to be named a tourism ambassador for such events as the revitalization of tourism following the 2005 tsunami, or more recently following Bangkok’s political demonstrations as an internet-television host for interviews about tourism in Thailand.

Another occasion arose to get in the game of revitalizing Thailand’s tourism image this past weekend during the “Smile@Ratchaprasong” Festival coordinated by the TAT and the Ratchaprasong Business Community. The Ratchaprasong area of course is where the Red Shirt demonstrations took place this past spring (perhaps you heard about it?), which left a temporary sour note in one of Bangkok’s ordinarily more vibrant neighbourhoods. The “Smile@Ratchaprasong” Festival sought to bring people back by way of a town fair– type atmosphere: live music concerts, games, competitions, crafts workshops, photo contests, retail space, moms & tots, etc. In addition, the TAT invited a wide range of media to the event, from traditional TV, newspaper and magazines, to the active social media influencers around town who were vital in reporting on-the-scene truths during and after the demonstrations this past spring. So, in an inspiring step forward, the TAT sought to recognize the importance of this new media vehicle and build bridges into this community. I was to host them on the first morning of the festival, followed by an informal lunch with the Governor of the TAT, Suraphon Svetsaranee, as well as Deputy Governor Prakit Piriyakiet, Executive Director Sugree Sithivanich, and Director of Communications, Thapanee Kiatpaiboon.

Some of our guests on the outing included local social media notables Michael, Richard, John, Greg, Jack, Anthony, Trevor, and more.

Social media celebrities unite!

So, how do you impress a group of seasoned locals and keep them interested for a half-day of visiting the very neighbourhood where many of them live, work and play regularly anyway? Enter Smiling Albino!

As an enhancement to the festival, Smiling Albino was asked to provide some entertainment and information to this group of bloggers, tweeters, online travel gurus and iWizards. So, rather than bludgeoning them with miles and miles of retail and music, we did what we have always thought travel should be about anyway: get involved with the locals.

Using the Ratchaprasong neighbourhood as our canvass, we drafted up a simple walking adventure, mixed with a private boat trip and a few sneak-a-peaks into local villages, shops, homes, boat piers and focused on the life and times of the local people who live, work, and pray in Ratchaprasong. In a two-hour jaunt we tasted the local food, heard the stories of the local shopkeepers, cooks, villagers, and spoke to boat drivers and pier custodians about life before and after the demonstrations. Some of us even tried our hand at making the curious kanom tokyo snacks. Nothing fancy – just an opportunity to get in touch with the community, and make the locals the stars for a day. The concept was “live, eat, work and pray in Ratchaprasong”

Here’s a quick breakdown of the trip:

Pray 1 – start at Erawan Shrine – the venerable spirit keystone of the entire neighbourhood. Flanked in untold mystery and curious history, the open-air goodness emanating from this corner of Ratchaprasong is a must for any walking experience in the neighbourhood.

Eat 2 – from here it was time to walk along Ratchaprasong Ave across from the recovering Central World Complex, currently getting a new make-over to grace Bangkok’s retail block once again. Here we spoke with Khun Tan, the lady who has run a small clothing shop (read: clothes hanging on a pole beside a tree along the roadside) for many years. Over the past few months her revenues have been cut in thirds, and she is improvising with a new Thai sweets stand selling kanom tokyo.

Greg steps into to street-hawker shoes and makes kanom tokyo

Greg kindly showed us how it was done and may have even sold some of his innovations to the passers by. This is a great strip of Bangkok to sample all kinds of street food, from kanom krock (the ping pong ball-looking coconut snack), to moo satay (pork skewers that taste better than they look) beyond the canal bridge, to Isaan-cum-urban dweller favourites, som tam and gai yang (papaya salad and grilled chicken).

Live 3 – Tao Phu Village

From here cut across the street into what looks like a construction site across from the canal bridge over the Saen Seab Canal. Beyond this cement factory is a narrow series of streets that pass through the Tao Phu Village (cement mixer village in Thai, named after the giant factory that dwarfs its sensibilities to the north). This oddly peaceful pocket of Ratchaprasong was a hotbed of activity during protests last spring, and the locals were happy to share their stories and demonstrate that they were ready to step into a fresh new chapter. A few hundred families make up this community, sequestered between the factory, Central World, and the edge of the Centara Complex to the west. Just another one of those places you’d never knew existed in this amazing city…

Tao Phu Village - stuck between a cement mixer and mega-mall

Work 4 – from Tao Phu Village cross back to the boat bridge and meet Mr Lert, the long-time manager of the boat station which serves as a main hub for what is Thailand’s longest canal, Khlong Saen Saeb. Mr Lert runs 60 boats up and down the canals from Bangkapi all the way to the Phan Fah Bridge in Banglampu, near Democracy Monument and Khao San Road. On our SA mini-adventure we hired a private boat to take our guests down the canal to famous Hua Chang Bridge station at Siam Square and the Bangkok Art & Culture Center. It was nice to see the boat business back at full throttle again, and Mr Lert kindly gave a couple of quick interviews before returning to his liquid thoroughfare office.

SA's Bank aboard a canal water taxi towards Siam Square

Live 5 – at the Hua Chang Boat Stop, one exits the boat stand into a small but lovingly cared for garden area run by Khun Rampui. She is the jovial lady who runs the red fridge with cool drinks and snacks for boat passengers. She graciously invited us into her wooden two-story house which precariously lurches out over the water. She has been there for many years and in exchange for rights to live and work in the space, she is also the custodian of the boat pier, hence the greenery and generally nice atmosphere.

Work (and shop) 6 – from here we walked along Rama I Road and checked out work on the rebuilding of retail space around the old Siam Theater. Many of the tenants who lost their space after the spring fires have set up a mini strip mall of canvassed cubicles on Siam Square Soi 4, while work is done to rebuild more formal retail space beside the theater. Life is marching on – and the resiliency of Thais and the smiles on their faces was a positive reminder that indeed The Land of Smiles is back in business! Travel here now!

Pray 7 – We ended the walking trip in an affirming manner, giving alms to monks at the Pathum Wararam Temple. This deep garden sanctuary is cocooned between Siam Paragon and Centara Grand/Central World complexes.

Wat Pathum Wararam's garden walking paths

It was also a safe haven for the fleeing protesters during the sweeping up operations which ended the demonstrations last spring. We thought it was a fitting ending to end this mini adventure on a high spiritual note, and a chance for a nice stroll through the temple gardens, and to use one of the nicer bathrooms in the neighbourhood.

From here along the skywalk all the way to the Grand Hyatt Erawan for a lunch with the TAT Governor and friends to discuss tourism initiatives and how to bridge ties into the social media world. All up – a good morning.

Long table discussion with TAT Governor Suraphon Svetsaranee

There was some positive discussion during our luncheon about how the social media community can get involved in the revitalizing of Thailand’s tourism industry, and more importantly how the TAT can catch the slip string of this momentum and make positive inroads into this exciting medium. Great work from Kae, Bank and Scott in the SA Office to get this mini-adventure off the ground last week, and special thanks to Bank for being a great host and trip leader for our media guests.

Great to have you all on board guys and thanks for the extra photo support, John!

by Scott Coates

Since 1932 there have been 18 coups in Thailand. They happen almost as often as fashion changes. It’s truly part of the social fabric.

The only picture of HM the King spotted at the protest

The last coup was in September 2006, to oust the democratically elected (the first majority in Thai history) Thai Rak Thai government, led by one of the kingdom’s wealthiest citizens, Taksin Shinawatra. He was out of the country at the time, stayed in exile for a while, came back for a bit, then left and didn’t return shortly before the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Since that time he has been moving around the globe: Dubai, England, Montenegro and a number of African nations. The Thai government sentenced him in absentia to two years in prison and seized about $US 2 Billion on corruption and abuse of power charges during his time as Prime Minister. Whether these charges are legit or the court cases were fair and balanced we’ll leave to another blog.

Fast forward to April 2010 and little has changed politically since the 2006 coup. There was a military government for a bit over a year, elections which saw a proxy government of the exiled prime minister led by his brother-in-law take power, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) who wear the King’s color of yellow (hence their being called the Yellow Shirts) took over Bangkok’s airports in November 2008 in protest of this government, the prime minister was sacked by the Election Commission (content for another blog), another proxy Prime Minister (Mr. Samak) was appointed and shortly thereafter sacked by the Election Commission for hosting a cooking show.
What followed was a bit of magic, the Democrat Party which is traditionally

Smiles abound at the protest

aligned with the ruling elite, pieced together a coalition to form a majority and took power with England-educated, Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva becoming Prime Minister. Also during this period a group calling itself the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) formed, aligned themselves with Taksin Shinawatra and his followers and started wearing red shirts.

Red shirts vs. Yellow Shirts
The last couple years have seen these two groups (Yellow=old wealth/power, Red=new wealth/power and the poor) stage various rallies/protests and push for their own agendas. With the Democrats and their alliance holding power for more than a year and showing no sign of dissolving government and calling for fresh elections, the Reds have gone on the offensive, staging rallies in/around Bangkok since March 14, 2010. Their main demand is a complete dissolution of the government and fresh elections, which would surely see Taksin’s friends get elected. Most people agree the 1997 constitution needs to be amended, but in which ways depends greatly on what side you ask. In late March the government and Red shirt leaders met for two days of talks which went nowhere. The government offered to dissolve within nine months, while the Reds stuck to their demand of 15 days – no exceptions. The government wants to achieve a couple things before any dissolution, namely revising the constitution and appointing the next head of the Armed Forces as the current one is due to retire about August (he’s unofficially aligned with the Yellows).

On Sunday, April 3, 2010 the Reds staged a protest in the heart of Bangkok’s shopping district along Rachaphrasong Road. Crowds of up to 50,000 occupied the streets from Paragon Shopping Center down to Chidlom Skytrain station and over to the Pratunam area. The city’s largest shopping

A monk watches the Reds at Rachaphrasong intersection

centers closed on Saturday/Sunday and are still closed today (April 5). The Reds have been ordered by the government to leave and say they’re not going anywhere. Where things will go from here no one knows. What was very interesting to note yesterday was the complete absence of alcohol, very friendly protesters (who even offered me food/water) and classic smiling Thai faces. I felt entirely safe the whole time, the Skytrain rapid system is operating as normal and all Smiling Albino adventures are going as scheduled. In fact, without going right to a protest site, you could spend weeks here without knowing there was anything out of the ordinary going on.
Lets hope the smiles don’t disappear. Stay tuned…

A popular people’s group that was instrumental in ousting the corrupt government in 2006, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), started leading protests against the current government in June 2008 in response to their plans to amend the constitution to assist the ousted former Prime Minister’s legal case, among other issues.

The PAD has been demanding that the current Prime Minister resign from office and dissolve parliament which would lead to fresh elections. During the month of August protesters grew tired of the government’s lack of response to their protests and encouraged union strikes and large protests. A stale-mate has ensued since with both sides now holding talks and plans are in the works for a national referendum to hopefully decide the composition of the government.

The worst thing that happened last week (Sept 1-7) was that 100 protesters got Athlete’s foot by standing in the rain too long.

Then on September 9, 2008 the prime minister was found guilty of working for another company while being prime minister, something that is not allowed. He has long been the host of a weekly TV cooking show and received money for doing so. This is a very black and white issue and he should have known better. Many see his being found guilty and being stripped of his post as a way for him to step-down without losing face (eg – stepping down on his own).

Only time will now tell as politicians from all sides wrangle for power.