Loot from my last Thailand trip

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d163/matthewjnielsen/37e22fd2.jpg

 

 I recognize all the gear and clothing but what's the box of stuff? cans of thai linament? Is that a bottle of Liquor?

The box is full of little packets of electrolites to mix in water.

The bottle is Sang Som Thai Rum

The little bottles are a type of Thai balm made from camphor and other herbs.

HOLY SHIT! That's a lot of loot.

And converted to USD, it probably cost next to nothing, too, right?

I love boon!!!!

TTT I've got about 50 trainers who would approve of that bottle of Samsung ;)

Cool stuff!

Is that a red-shirt hankerchief I see to the right?

I am in Thailand for 12 weeks and the Red Shirts are here by the thousands. Man on Saturdays I can't even leave the apartment because traffic is at a standstill.

Yes, a old lady on Sukhumvit gave it to me. They should be gone by Songkran.

lol, when I was taking some photos around Ratchadamnern some dude came running up to me and tied a bandana around my arm.

They took over the intersection by Central World and Siam Discovery now. They said they won't move until April 20th.

Just hoping they don't have plans to go to the airport in May.

UDD doesn't take over the airports, thats the PAD party yellow shirts. I was hoping they would take the airport when I was leaving, I would love to get stuck in Thailand.

Nice haul!

I haven't been following Thai politics. What's the primary difference between the Yellow & Red shirts? What does each group stand for?

Now it all depends on who you talk to as to who is right or wrong. Generally though the red shirts are supporters of ex-PM Thaksin. The yellow shirts are considered loyalist to the democratic party and the King.

I am just hoping there is no violence again over the holidays coming up. Last year, the red shirts created chaos over the city. Hopefully they can have a peaceful resolution this year.






Does the military support either of these factions, or is it more "neutral"? I realize it was the military that deposed Thaksin, but apart from that is it taking sides?

Most people in Isaan support Thaksin, he gives them free handouts. Pays his protesters 500 baht a day.

After 2 years with my Boon gear, I love the one-piece belly-pad even more. It has held up to a lot of wear. The focus mitts as well. I have the small kick pads, and they don't take a whole lot of sting out of the heavier kickers, but are definitely light weight and versatile.

Politics in Thailand are very complex. After studying the subject for a few years, this was pretty much the conclusion of my thesis. That, and their social forces are strong.

...although I'd argue, at the moment, they are a shade under the power of Kyrgyzstan's ;)

The military is supporting the ruling government. However, there is a belief that there is very strong element of red shirts in the military leadership so it's important as to who ends up in charge of the miliary later this year in the reshuffles. Two of the biggers issues from this conflict is over that and the money seized from Thaksin on corruption charges.

What Ryuku said has been published in the newspapers and been substantiated on video. In addition supposedly protestors will get 200,000 baht each if Thaksin can come back into power.

On saturday red shirts invaded a military bases and were driven out. Soliders then persued with riot gear trying to clear the city. They walked into a ambush as they were using riot gear and small arms against what appears to be an unnamed armed forces and red shirts (who were armed with machine guns, grenades, gasolines bombs, etc). Speculation is out there but the unnammed forces, shot people on both sides with sniper fire.

A leading colonel from last year's riot was specifically targeted and then killed by them. In the last few hours there have been other assaination attempts against other military leaders. I at am loss over this as mobs are still kidnapping people with motor cycle gangs and threatening political leaders.

What did the gloves run you and how hard were they to come across? One of my good friends is going to Thailand in a few weeks for his honeymoon and I told him I'd be sending him a loot request. I need some new 16's, and wouldn't mind some new focus mitts. How much were things running you?