Enemy of the State - Thomas the Train and the UDD #4

“The odds are six to five that the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train“.


We had been passing by the Train station in Chiang Mai for days and every time my son asked if we could go see the train. I have to admit that it looked like Thomas in that incredibly stupid kids show from England that seems to have brainwashed the young set, before they turn into Power Rangers.
I’ve driven by the train station a thousand times but I’ve never bothered to drive in to it as the train is about the last mode of transport I’d ever use in Thailand. The Reds have had a stage set up there for ages and they pipe out the Protest in Bangkok at a high decibel level. Sometimes they go to the traffic light and give out leaflets or little pieces of red cloth. I thought lets kill two birds with one stone and off we went to see Thomas and the Reds.

It didn’t take long to look at Thomas so we headed over to the red encampment. There were only about 30 people sitting under an open sided tent watching the rally from Bangkok. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting what we found. There wasn’t a single person there except a lady in her early fifties that was wearing anything red. The people were all very subdued and just watched the protest in silence. I was expecting the hardcore radical reds would be here CM51 or something, but these people were just normal folks. The kind you would find in BigC or Makro any day of the week. Wasn’t a single one that would bring about even a pang of caution if you passed them in the street in the middle of the night. None of the radical drunk element that was constantly put forward on ASTV, I was mildly disappointed. I was hoping to talk to someone that had real fire in their heart. Nothing.

I talked to the older lady for some time. She told me that most of the Reds from Chiang Mai had gone to Bangkok. That they all had to stay behind because of commitments. They came to the Railway station to lend support when they could. There were always different people that came but they got to know one another and that they all agreed and supported the Reds in Bangkok. That they wanted new elections and for Abhisit to dissolve the house.

This eloquent, vastly intelligent and pursuasive lady even got me to buy one of their Red shirts for 200Bt.  Picture of Thaksin on the front - DOUBLE STANDARDS on the back.  So away we went distancing ourselves from both the Reds and Thomas with new red shirt in hand. 

I have to wonder if this exchange with this older lady and the purchase of one of their shirts has skewed my judgment and pushed me over the line of neutrality. Probably not. I can always argue with my alter ego that it was purchased to give the shirt to my son, later in life, and explain what went on in the Red Era of Thai Politics. BUT that argument with myself went out the window when we passed a TukTuk driver sitting in the shade and he just smiled and nodded his head in approval.