LatASIA

Is it still safe to visit Thailand?  A question that I get asked all the time.  Well, the short answer is - Yes!  

Don't get me wrong, there is still a tension amongst the rich and the 'battle' for power and wealth goes on.   Places like Chiang Mai and Bangkok have had flash points over the past 12 months, some of which have been professionally sensationalized by the BBC and CNN.  And people have been hurt, injured or killed.  But I have lived here during that time and never seen one sign of trouble with my own eyes.

Sabai Sabai in Amazing Thailand! Don't let the press sensationalism put you off. Just as with the pig flu, we haven't been wiped out yet!Additionally, you will be hard pressed to find any threat to your personal safety in places like Hua Hin, Krabi, Phuket, Pattaya or Sumui.  Unless, of course, you are daft enough to fall for one of the tourist scams that involve buying the lady a very, very, very expensive drink!

If you want to get more insight into what the issues are amongst the Thai rich then you might want to read the following articles.

The first is by a Bangkok Post columnist, Khun Sanitsuda Ekachai. She regularly writes about the social injustices in Thailand and this article tries to set out some of the issues as she sees it.

The article - Thailand's shocking inequity statistics - can be read here.

The second article is an interview given by the Bangkok Governor Khun Sukhumbhand Paribatra.  Khun Sukhumbhand is a member of the same political party as the current government and he gives a very candid interview about the trouble in Thailand (as at April 2009, when the interview took place).  You can read his interview in Der Spiegel article - A Divided Nation: In Thailand the law of the jungle prevails - here.