Escape from a Riot Zone

About noon on Sunday May 16th, after two and a half days of gunshots, explosions, ambulances and fires, and after several pleas from Poo, and with concern about the effect of the tire smoke on our respiratory systems, I decided that Thun and I would run for it. But we couldn't leave in the afternoon or at night.

At 07:00 on Monday, Thun and I threw a few precious belongings into a gym bag and headed out into the riot zone. How could we get out? It was too far to walk and every intersection was cluttered with debris and burning tires, so there was only one way out: motorcycle taxi. We went to the mototaxi stand in the back soi, but there were just two guys in an animated discussion and a toothless old lady, probably homeless. She asked me what I wanted and I said:

"มอร์เตอร์ไซค์" ("motoesai" = motorcycle)

She nudged one of the guys standing near me. He turned to me, sized up the situation, and asked:

"ไปไหน" ("pai nai" = where are you going?)

I told him, "FortuneTown" and he nodded, and reached into his bag for his orange vest.

The guy smelled like tire smoke and he had very red eyes -- he had been up all night throwing rocks at soldiers, burning tires, or both! Still, we were desperate to get out, and he had a big bike, which was fortunate, because he put Thun between his legs and the handlebars, and I threw the bag over my shoulder and got on back, and off we went.

He found some back soi that I never knew existed, and then went the wrong way on a deserted expressway, and five minutes later, Thun and I were safely delivered to FortuneTown, in a riot-free part of Bangkok. I was so relieved! The driver was expecting about 40 Baht, but I gave him 100 Baht and he was delighted.

Hopefully, he went somewhere to shower and get some sleep.