i think it's over

On Wednesday the Red Shirt protest was declared to be over. Somehow Roger and I thought that once it was over it would be over.

The Thai Army had been fighting with the Red Shirts since early in the morning. Wednesday morning around 10 am we took this picture from the top of the grocery store by our house.


We could see smoke from the fires near the protest site.

Around 1:30 some of the leaders of the Red Shirts turned themselves into police. We were at home (where we have been for the past 8 days) trying to follow everything on facebook and twitter. Around 3 pm our electricity went out and we started to hear something that sounded like gunfire. We went outside to talk to our neighbors and could see thick smoke near our house.

We live far enough away from the protest site that we never saw or heard anything, so we were very surprised to suddenly be hearing and seeing things so close to home.

Around 4 pm we were hot and decided to jump in the car and drive to the grocery store. We really had no idea what was going on around us. We made it to the end of our street and saw 4 police trucks, smoke coming from two different buildings and nobody on the street. We backed right back down our road, into our driveway and went right back in the house.

Our neighbor got on his bike and road to the main street and came back to tell us that a bank and a TV station were on fire. We were so surprised to see anything like that near where we live. Roger went out a little while later and saw a helicopter rescuing people from the top of the TV station (the station is in a tower, the fire was on the first floor).


A little while later the electricity came back on and we were able to get online and see what had happened. Evidently when the Red Shirts left the city they burned down a lot of buildings and destroyed a lot of property.

The rest of the night was quiet, everything was closed and there was a curfew for the whole city.

Today we went for a walk to see what the damage was to the buildings around us. None of our usual Thai friends were out, so we couldn't check to see how they were doing.


We did see some busted telephones booths and some of the fire damage at the bank.


Tonight everything is quiet again in the city. There is still a curfew and we are praying that this is all finished.

Obviously a lot more happened in the city. In fact, what happened near us was very minor compared to the damage and destruction near the protest site.

More pictures from the past few days in Bangkok, click here.

Update

There doesn't seem to be much to update. Basically we have settled into life here in Bangkok and don't have a lot of fun stories to share. Unlike our time in The Islands, nothing too strange seems to happen here. No floods, no rats, no random street animals coming into our house.

Life is normal. Or at least as normal as our life gets.

We have been busy lately. Roger studies Thai each morning from 8-12 and then rushes home so I can be out the door by 12:40. I stay at home with Asher every morning and study Thai each afternoon. After our classes are over for the day we usually take Asher to the park so that he can play and we can sweat, I mean practice Thai, with the people at the park. When it starts to get dark we head home, Asher goes to bed and we do homework. Most nights we find a little time to watch an episode of Lost.

Here in Bangkok we are still dealing with the Red Shirt protestors. They have been here for close to two months. At midnight tonight the government will shut off all electricity, water, food and telephone service to the area they are occupying. The area where they are having the protests looks like a war zone (and according to Roger it smells like pee). They have built barricades of bamboo poles and gasoline soaked tires right in the heart of the city. We are praying that this situation will end peacefully, but each day it continues that seems less likely.

Other random bits of information...
1. It was 100 degrees on Monday with a heat index of 113. I felt like I was literally melting as I walked from my Thai lesson to catch the train.
2. We have a new house helper and we love having her in our home. She is a tremendous help to me and Asher seems to almost like her. I love having somebody in the house all morning to practice Thai with.
3. The summer travel season is almost upon us and we have very few plans to travel. Our new baby will not be quite as well traveled as Asher. By the time Asher was born he had already flown 27,000 miles and by the time he was three months old he had flown another 12,000 miles.

New

New haircut.

New shirt.

New baby.

We are expecting Hampton Baby #2 on Christmas Day.

Beach Trip

We have a break from school (at least Roger does) for the next few weeks, so we decided to get out of the city for a few days. I love that we live just a few hours from the beach, we hopped in the car Thursday morning and were at the beach before lunch time.

We spent 4 days swimming, playing on the beach and relaxing. We love living in the big city, but it's always nice to take a break.

This was actually our first vacation to be just the three of us. Bethany and Lindsay joined us on Asher's first vacation and Mimi took us to the beach last spring. We enjoyed spending time together and trying to get a good family picture.

Asher was rather attached to Roger the entire time we were gone.

He really wanted nothing to do with me. While I did miss getting to hold on to my baby boy, I also enjoyed having some time to myself to read and go swimming.

By the time Sunday rolled around we were ready to get back to city living. We made the short drive back home and are now getting ready to celebrate the Thai New Year.

P.S. If you want to see more pictures from the beach click here.

Easter 2010

Before church on Sunday I drug everybody out front and made them take a picture with me.

I didn't realize that Easter was so soon (much can be forgotten when no chocolate eggs are at the store). We had a fun day at church and then we had our traditional Sunday afternoon meal of rice and curry (for Courtney) and rice and garlic chicken (for Roger).

looking for trouble

The Red Shirts have been in Bangkok now for almost two weeks. The first weekend they were here we carried our camera with us everywhere hoping to see them and take some pictures. Of course the only time we saw them I didn't have the camera with me.

Eventually we got tired of waiting around and hoping to see them and we decided to be pro-active. Roger looked online at The Bangkok Post and saw where they were currently rallying. Then he jumped on the Sky Train and went to see what was going on.

While this may sound exciting and somewhat dangerous let me reassure you that it wasn't. It was all very peaceful and fairly boring.

Here are the pictures that Roger came home with.

For the most part we have not been too inconvenienced by the Red Shirts. Asher and I did sort of get caught in the middle of their march down Sukhumvit Road last Wednesday. It was loud and Asher clapped right along with them, but it really wasn't a big deal.

There are lots of rumors going around the city about what will happen next. For now all we know is that the Red Shirts are still here and are planning to march around Bangkok again on Saturday.

something new in the backyard

When we left Kentucky in 2007 we had to leave behind Roger's beloved grill. We were going to sell it, but never got around to it. Now it lives at Mimi's shed along with our good China.

One night a few weeks ago I sent Roger to the store for some milk. Two hours later a Thai man stepped onto my front porch carrying part of a grill followed by a smiling Roger and the rest of the grill.

I'm definitely not complaining, Roger is the Grill Master and when he grills I don't have to cook.

Asher spotted something new that he is not allowed to touch in the backyard.

Roger's new toy.

The men looking quite manly with their new grill.

Asher telling Daddy about the clothesline.