Street Gangs

We had some more excitement this morning. Poo woke me up at 6:30 AM. She was excited:

"The protests have turned violent. Schools are canceled. The Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok."

"uuhh," I grunted.

"We should take the children, get out of Bangkok, and go to the country house for a week."

"We can't do that," I said, "there might be tanks on the road." Really, I wanted to go back to sleep.

Later, over Poo's protests, I bravely ventured into the streets of Bangkok. There were street gangs alright--gangs of uniformed students who had been released from school. They were all carrying those menacing cell phones. They were calling each other, trying to find places to congregate. They flocked to McDonald's, Burger King, or any place they could find air-conditioning. It was a Gigantic Teenage Flirtfest. They played with their phones, taking photos of each other, and then sending the photos, electronically, across the table.

They all had textbooks and notebooks, but nobody was studying.

I'm lucky I made it back alive.