The streets of Siam Square on the night of the Red Riot.
At only 10:00 p.m., what used to be a lively avenue was silent.
A single police cruiser sits behind the station,
a white charger without a knight.
The road is long, and it is empty tonight.
Whimsical mascots contrast with the stillness.
While high up above, the only smiling face
in the darkness.
By-Pass indeed, of passers-by in need.
More mascots stand fast despite abandonment..
The glow of some playful lights underscore the eerieness.
While colors highlight the bleakness..
A lone guard watches over nothing.
On this clear night, infinity is stretching.
The side streets were so ghostly, so deserted...
...even a serene shrine looked haunted.
Smiling toys look out over another lifeless lane.
As two locals sit in the dark, contemplating the day.
Empty benches dot the front of an empty parking lot.
A Vespa waits for its owner.
A lonesome guard on a lonely corner.
A tuktuk breaks the silence, before vanishing into the night.
And at the end of the road, the ironic light.
Wow. This does not seem to be the Bangkok that I have come to love. Freaky.
ReplyDeletephotos + captions = two thumbs up.
ReplyDeletenice.
i hope bangkok will be much more fun and lively when i visit there soon.
ReplyDeletewhen the body leaves the spirit behind, the poetic chaos of silence, sometimes could be only once in a lifetime.
ReplyDelete-
(inggit here or baka naturally, sentimental person lang talaga ako )
looks like new zealand at 8pm. :P
ReplyDelete@ engel : Yeah, what IS it with Down Under? Sydney's the same: the city becomes a howling wasteland after six, and doesn't come back to life again until around 11:00 p.m. or so.
ReplyDelete@ dabo : Capturing these rare moments of eerie stillness in a city known for its hitherto-charming chaos made passing on that yummy black guy I mentioned in the previous post all worth it.
I think.
@ 佩昭彥怡 : Uhm...yeah.
@ john stan : I hope so, too. It's a fun, friendly town - when they're not trying to kill each other, that is.
@ Von Draye : Awww, thanks.
@ Tristan : Yes, this is not the Bangkok we both know and love.
where is everybody? it's a little creepy. the captions you wrote made me sad. were u sad when u wrote them?
ReplyDelete@ Nyl : The day we flew in was the day the month-long tensions between the Red Shirts and the government exploded, resulting in the deaths of more than 20 people.
ReplyDeleteThough the clashes did not happen in the vicinity of our hotel (it occurred at the other staging point of the protesters), it wasn't at all surprising that Rajprasong issued a preemptive lockdown of all shops and a preventive barricading of hotels in the area.
The eerie results are what I posted here.
Was I sad when I wrote the captions? Can't say I was - it was more reflective than anything else. When I first beheld these sorry sights - that was when I was saddened.
i think my comment just shows how little i know of the happenings in the world. :S i apologize for my ignorance.
ReplyDeleteyour reflections seemed sad, that's all. but now that i know the back story, i can sort of imagine me feeling the same way had i witnessed it meself.