Violence in South Thailand rises in past 6 months

ofcourse just my personal opinion based on what I see around town.......
plus ofcourse stories like the "Official inflame crisis in deep south' that one sees in newspapers would kinda confirm this feeling..... Excerpt from the story: Last Friday, a unit of 12 soldiers investigating arson attacks in Pattani's Ban Bana village shot and killed three unarmed teenagers who were playing tag near the weekly outdoor market. ........... April 9 shooting death of four Muslim youths in Yala's Tambon Kern Banglang in Bannang Sata district. There, a heated exchange of words between a group of village defence volunteers and about 20 Muslim youths returning from a funeral turned bloody when the government-backed outfit responded with gunfire. Four young Muslim men died, and six were injured.

so here are some photos of what Pattani and its surrounding districts look like these days....



checkpoints on the highways



















now a common sighting around town







and heres a look at a police station







So from little known town of then, Pattani has grown from a place that many of my thai friends didnt even know exist, to today a place thats filled with international journalists. I much prefer my old unknown town.......

Another bomb goes off in Pattani

Some of you may know...since I spoke to some .....that I was in Malaysia today. Anyhow coming back I was thinking an update of this blog might be due...with perhaps some pics of my latest chocolate buys. So we get home, have a nice relaxing meal at home, drop off my Mom's friend back at her place, and slowly make our way back home.

Suddenly we hear sirens and honking behind us, giving way we see police cars, ambulances and rescue cars rushing past. Suddenly it occurs to us that these cars arent going all that far, and stops less than a 100 metres away.

Getting quite curious to find out, as the scene is so close to our place which is basically the city centre, we decide to follow to check out whats going on. Getting there a police tells me that a bomb had just gone off, injuring one person. They had the area blocked off, obviously worrying that another bomb might have been implanted. We drive back home, only to see a bomb squad heading to the scene. was the first time I had seen one of these vans, look pretty scary.
when we got back there for more photos, some journalist...a guy from Associated Press who was staying at the hotel almost next door, had arrived and was taking photos. He hadnt heard anything further either.....I guess there'll be more in the news later on.

It could be a business sabotage ploy? since the bomb went off at a busy restaurant....but then again it could be the result of unhappiness that the incident on Friday where teenagers were accidentally shot at by police didnt receive a lot of coverage in the news. obviously another tragic incident..........

Living under the crescent moon

an exhibition of domestic living in middle eastern culture
I went to the exhibition this weekend (4th Feb). it was at TCDC (Thailand Creative Design Centre) at Emporium shopping mall.
Living Under the Crescent Moon is an overview of living styles in the Arab world. You’ll see the nomads’ tents of the Tuareg and the Bedouin, as well as Moroccan casbahs, magnificent court-yarded houses in Marrakech, Damascus, Cairo, and other cities, plus 20th-century buildings by architects such as Hassan Fathy and Elie Mouyal.
the exhibition was pretty good, mostly pictures and text explanation, with a number of videos and sound. the music is quite hypnotising! made me want to go visit the region, I think particularly Morocco seems very interesting. There were also some models, and one room that was a replica of a courtyard in a house...with the walls decked up with intricate mosaic work. really impressive!!

you see?? I do have my cultured moments/weekends. 2 in a row now :)

after Bangkok the exhibition will be in Singapore. or for those that arent in Singapore and missed it elsewhere, you can also get the book... here