It was an American tour, but I flew from Hong Kong to Thailand to join the group. Due to the political unrest, there had already been demonstrations in Bangkok everyday, and some conflicts turned violent. The Hong Kong Government had issued warnings for travelling to this country. All the public tours for Thailand were suspended, and the airlines waived the penalty for cancelling the tickets.

Nevertheless, the US Government had not posted any alert for the American tourists yet. Hence, all the tours departed as scheduled. My hotel was only two blocks away from the main protest site. During our free time (the first two afternoons) I only stayed in my room to do email (!!). The day we left Bangkok and headed north, the tour guide announced that a couple more protestors were killed, thus the tension escalated, and the tour company required all of us to register on the US official website so that they could notify us in case of evacuation. Our nervousness did not last long, for once we left the capital we didn't see any demonstrations, we felt relaxed visiting various Buddhist temples and ruins of the great ancient cities. But, when we returned to Bangkok the day before flying back to the U.S., we were told to return to the hotel before 6 p.m., the time a potential curfew might begin. After my group left, the situation did become much worse.

In spite of the unrest, I found the Thai people that I met very gentle and kind. However, it was indeed an unusual travelling experience.

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