Protests in Bangkok

As I will blog about in another post, Nick and I went to Bangkok this weekend despite warnings from the US embassy- and my dad- fearing for the safety of foreigners during the Bangkok Shutdown. 

Summary : the current Thai Prime Minister,  Yingluck Shinawatra, tried to clear her brother, a former Thai PM himself, in an amnesty bill that would allow him to return to Thailand from self-imposed exile. One of the political parties in Thailand (the People's Democratic Party?) had a major problem with this and has been trying to oust Yingluck from her role. Starting in December, city-wide protests and marches in Bangkok have brought the issue global attention and travel warnings were issued from the States (and pretty much every major Western country).

Jan 13 marked the beginning of the 'Bangkok Shutdown', which is supposed to last anywhere from 20 days onward. Lots of disruptions throughout the city, and more recently there have been explosions or homemade bombs.

So that's what we (Nick and I) were heading into when we arrived in Bangkok Friday night. 

Our hotel (Vie Hotel) was near a major protest site, next to the Siam malls, but we didn't experience many problems with it - 

 Protestors near Siam center mall

Picture of Victory Monument (taken from metro above)

Also the press has been a target of violence recently- I think that's why they didn't give the author name for this Bangkok Post article ?

Frankly the protests really only made one major difference in our trip- I really really wanted Outback Steakhouse for lunch today. Due to lack of customers (I assume), it was closed. I was very very perturbed.