Sooooo a couple of days ago the government gave the Reds a chance to get the women, children and elderly out of their camp. This was largely ignored. I really can't imagine anyone letting their kids stick around in the middle of a riot zone; sure, it makes for sympathetic pictures in the world news, but they're YOUR KIDS. Anyway, I expected this to precede a major crackdown at last, and sure enough, it came today. The Red leaders surrendered in the early afternoon and it all looked to be ending. I went down for a nap.

A few hours later, nothing had ended after all. The Reds went berserk, setting fires all over the city. Central World, one of the major shopping malls here, is set to collapse and something like thirty other buildings were set ablaze. There are reports of looting and the government, for the first time, set a curfew.

Yeah, curfews suck just as much now as they did the last time I had one, when I was a teenager.

The curfew was to start at eight and it was already 6:30 and so I went out in search of provisions for the night. The atmosphere on my street had totally changed. It's been extremely quiet this whole time, but at dusk yesterday it was bustling with people buying food and hurrying home... or at least hurrying somewhere. The 7-11s had already closed - a sight I've never seen in Thailand. A lot of the food stalls and little mom-and-pop convenience stores were still open (and crowded), so I grabbed what I could (two bags of chips, one bag of cookies and three cans of Diet Coke) and went back home.

Among my facebook friends who live in Bangkok, discussion was mostly about who was leaving for where. Most of my friends here have gone elsewhere until things quiet down.

I can't deny that all this is sort of exciting. I'm not actually in any danger and it gives me stories to tell, for sure. If I didn't have a mother I might even have tried to get in close enough to take some good photos... not now that things have really erupted, but before, when it was more sporadic. As it is, I shall settle for what the Bangkok Post sees fit to tell me. Sigh.