As the riots, protests and violence begin to dissipate in Bangkok, Thailand, we wanted to follow up our previous post about the protests, with some comments from some of our Au Pairs from Thailand.
According to the Thai Au Pairs we have heard from, none of our Au Pairs’ family or friends have been injured in the violent protests in Bangkok. We are grateful for their safety and we have admonished our Thai Au Pairs to stay in close contact with their families during this time of turmoil.
Below are some of the responses to our questions from a few of our Thai Au Pairs.
How were your family and friends affected by the protests and violence in Bangkok?
"My sister lives in Bangkok. She said she has been affected a lot, such as she can't go anywhere easily like in the past because most businesses are close to Bangkok and the protesters. Some days she couldn't go to work or they even got there late."
- Orchid
"Fortunately, my family lives far away from where the fighting is. They all are fine, just facing a problem of transportation to their work."
- Apple
Have you been able to communicate with your family and friends? If so, how did you contact them?
"Yes we communicate all the time both email and phone and sometimes we chat with MSN or Skype."
- Orchid
"Yes, I have been able to communicate with my family via Skype but thank God, they're far away from the capital. - With friends, purely Facebooking."
- Joy
What did your family and friends say about the protests and the government?
"All [the] Thai people are talking about this. Some people like the government and some people really don't like it. But my parents, they hope only that it will calm down and everything [will get] better soon. My parents are always working [so] they just watch [the] news [and] don't much talk about this. ... They said they don't like the protests or the violence anymore."
- Orchid
"Obviously everyone is not happy with the 'protests,' irritation, etc. With government, [I have] not heard much comment about it, but as far as I hear, they kinda support the government. Some are tired of this endless political problem. For me personally, I'm very disappointed with how government has been dealing with this crisis. It could have ended long time ago. I don't understand the idea of handling things peacefully and let those people cause this much damage to the country."
- Joy.
If your family or friends were close to the protests, how much damage was done to the city?
"If my family or my friends were close to the protests, it was very bad for them. They might move from there to somewhere which very far or go out the city to visit with who we know and wait for it [to calm] down and then come back to Bangkok. I saw from the news it is very bad, we never seen [anything like this] before. So it might be dangerous for them."
- Orchid
"The damage, the last I heard, is one of the shopping malls right in the middle of the city might collapse because it was set on fire. There are many places set on fire; banks, TV stations - it gets really ugly."
- Joy
One of our Thai Au Pairs closed her response with the following, “All I can say is I don't choose any sides or colors. We all are Thai and looking for peace.”
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