It was really "amazing Thailand". The bloodless coup has been successful. Thai Prime Minister, Taksin Shinawatra, was forced to live in exile at his second house in London. The pro-Taksin military sect and groups were surrendered and dissolved. Bangkok has come back to normal just two days after that shocking military coup.
I noticed the first sign of the incident with TV. Thai local channels suddenly suspended the normal programs and were switched to a still picture of some announcement with the photograph of Thai king around 23:00 on 19th September 2006.
Then one staff of my guesthouse said to me, "Some incident is happening in the central. Military tanks are blocking the streets and major shopping centers were forced to close down."
I asked my staff to translate the announcement displayed on television. According to her translation, it said, "The Army has seized government offices. Please believe us and stay at home. We are sorry for your inconvenience caused by the interruption of TV programs."
At that time, some guests of my guesthouse were staying in the lobby and enjoying chatting. I said to them, "The Martial Law was declared. Please do not go to the central. This guesthouse and its vicinity are safe".
I tuned TV on to some foreign satellite channels (CNN, BBC, NHK etc.). But those channels have already been blacked out. Then, I started to gather information via Internet TV (I have one Location Free TV at my guesthouse to receive Japanese local channels), but Japanese channels were airing normal programs and I could not find any information about the situation.
Then I tried to access some newspaper website, but it was very difficult to reach those site. Although Internet connection was still available, it was very slow possibly due to high traffic. After several trials, I managed to access one Japanese newspaper website. It releases an urgent report about the coup in Thailand. I printed it out and circulated it among guesthouse guests.
During this chaotic situation, one guest departed for Dong Muang Airport, and another guest arrived from the airport. I checked with the guest about whether he had had any problem on the way from the airport. But he said, "No problem at all."
I instructed some of my staff to maintain vigilance until morning and closed the entrance door (usually my guesthouse is open around the clock).
TV programs were back to normal on the next morning. I went outside the guesthouse to see how things have turned out.
Some stalls that selli grilled chickens, fruits, and rice porridge were preparing to open. Several monks were walking with an alms bowl. A mobile vegetable shop (a truck) was selling fresh produce on the street. Everything was disarmingly normal.
It was very good that nothing terrible has happened, but I thought, "This is a bit an anticlimax, isn't this?"
