Safety of Travel in Thailand 2014 — Martial Law, Peaceful Military Coup
 

I think it's time for a separate thread on the safety/security of travel to Bangkok right now. There's been some discussion in the Thai News thread, but it seems things are heating up. For example, here's the recent BBC article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25180865
It's come to tear gas and shots fired at times.

Some questions to focus on:

• Are the more tourist areas still safe?
• Any transportation issues? Airport, Skytrain, Subway
• Travel warnings from foreign countries, curfews, etc?
• Airline travel waivers?

Let's please keep the political side of the discussion (pro or anti Thaksin) out of this thread as much as possible, so we can focus on the travel issues. I'm supposed to arrive on 12/29, so I'm hoping this calms by then. Ay info from people currently in Bangkok would be great!

Yes, No, Yes, No.

I'd just stick to the news thread.

I have the same questions and I am supposed to arrive 12/15 ...I came here looking for facts dealing with actual travel issues - not politics. The burning of Central World mall which is in the area of other large malls is disconcerting.

Safety of Travel in Bangkok [late 2013 protests]
 

How so? What is the connection?

Here in Phuket it's business as usual.

There are occasional protests in Phuket town, most lately at the Provincial Headquarters. Phuket protesters have stated that they will not interfere with any tourist infrastructure or tourist areas.

No issues at the airport, any of the resort areas, or beachside communities.

In Patong Beach, it's life as usual, today with a high of 31C, low of 23C.

I'm sorry but where is the news thread referred to above? I searched the TravelBuzz and Travel News forums for all posts with Thailand, BKK, or Bangkok in the title and didn't find any pertinent "news" thread.

We're going on our honeymoon to BKK/HKT/REP, and will be in and out of BKK multiple times between Christmas and the first week of the new year, and are now considering cancelling and going India instead.

I'll be watching this thread with great interest, and I'd appreciate any info on where else we can stay abreast of the situation. In the meantime, I agree with the OP's idea to keep this thread active as a place where concerned travelers to Thailand can share updates




Thanks for the update

That was during the last big protest movement a few years ago now. Completely different events. In that case the red shirts had taken over that area of town for a couple of weeks before the troops moved in. The currents events are a totally different kettle of fish.

It seems, from reading as much as possible on the topic, that both sides are very aware of tourism's importance to the country, and they do their best to not interfere.

Thanks for the info, but I'd respectfully like to make the case for a new thread. There's a lot of other stuff going on in that thread including some political back and forth. I just wanted to have a place for relevant travel-related news and info to be discussed. This is approaching a high tourist season and for those of us that are in Bangkok rarely to never, this is of high interest. This is certainly more worthy of a thread than the 300 threads of "What do you think of this itinerary"

It looks like today they attempted to commandeer garbage trucks and ram the barricades surround government buildings.

I also learned that some of the protests were around the area of Wat Pho and Khao San Road which are definitely on tourist itineraries.
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/arti...ve-5026773.php

Travel related news? Don't take the train to Chiang mai. That's about the extent of travel related news at this point.

Smart money would be on staying away from Government House which no tourist would be near anyway.

The main protest site is at Democracy Monument which happens to be near Khao San rd. I've heard nothing of protests near Wat Pho. The result of this? Buses have been diverted from their normal routes.... are you planning on taking buses?

I gotta say all this angst is misplaced since little of what is currently going on will affect tourists.

FWIW, I visited Loha Prasat which is right near the protest site when I was in town last month. Not that a lot of tourists go there, but some of us do. Even the Golden Mount isn't too far away. Traffic was a nightmare down there already at that point.

I think it's just a matter of tuning into the local news sites to know what's going on at the time you're there.

Respectfully, I think you are wrong about a dedicated thread. Without the context of what is going on, it is very easy for people to make the wrong choices. Those who have the most knowledge and are on the ground are in the other thread discussing and giving a sense of where things may be headed. I have not heard of anything near Wat Pho. I'm following the local bloggers and twitter feeds before I venture out.

Agreed. So best is to watch the other thread where it will become clear if things are heading in a direction which will impact tourists/foreigners. At the moment, this is the equivalent of being in Manhattan when there is a gang war going on in Staten Island and wondering if JFK is going to be closed.

Situation in Bangkok - Safe to visit city centre?
 

Hi everyone,

I'm having a 3-day stopover in BKK and wonder if it's safe to visit the city centre? I'm currently sitting around in the airport hotel watching the news a bit reluctant to explore the city as it looks pretty tense on tv.


Cheers,
Paul

Welcome to FlyerTalk, FlyerPaul!

As this relates to a particular destination, we'll go ahead and move this over to the Thailand forum for discussion and analysis by the experts on Thailand over there.

It appears there is some discussion already ongoing in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thail...-protests.html

Regards,
jackal
Information Desk