The Morning After

In an earlier post, I mentioned that it would be interesting to see what the morning after the Red Riot in Bangkok would look like. So I headed out at around 10:00 a.m., 12 hours later.

 The hotel pool was empty and still, with nary a ripple.

 And at street level, the same went for people.

  A cheerful mascot mocks a cheerless road.

Unoccupied seats all in a row.

The candy colors of melancholy.

And irony tastes better with Pepsi.

Both near and far...

 

...the streets were swept clean of cars.

Inside the covered walkway to MBK, sharks were

the main attraction of their summer treats.

But all the bloodletting happened outside on the streets .

A smattering of shoppers ascend the mall.

Parking lots with vacant slots...

...and hollow marble halls.

Even the cathedrals of escapism had barricades.

Ringed by sweeping expanses of  silent space.

The smoking lounges were full of empty benches.

Movie posters lined up to no one's stare..

For even the lifeless didn't seem to care.

 

 

 Only Pepsi seemed to be having a ball.

 

 Even mannequins tried to get away from it all.

 

 Proud Siam Center, laid silent and low.

 

 As a different kind of protester blocked the steps below.

 

 The Big Loft mascot rails at its fate.

With no one around to hear the great yellow ape.

 

Black and foreboding signs of the times.

 

 And emblazoned on a dead railway, a more ironic sign.