what’s weather like there?…

Will and I just had lunch here at the hotel – on our own tab now (included in the room rate) as the Thai government scheme for “stranded” (it’ll always be in inverted commas, sorry) tourists ended yesterday. You can’t half tell.

The restaurant, which seats around … ooh, say … a hundred? hundred and fifty? … is normally about a third full, with the buffet at the far left a hive of activity. We understand from talking to the staff that even this is well below normal occupancy rates for the time of year.

Today: no customers, no buffet. A set menu replaced the lavish banquet; the bains marie, normally the stars of the show, sat unheated, forlorn, devoid of nourishment. The chefs were not circulating amongst the customers pointing out the various foodstuffs, explaining the recipes, helping out those with special dietary needs. Practical economics lies behind this change: there just aren’t enough people to make it worthwhile.

Besides Will and myself, I spotted two other people. Two. One wing of this hotel has 25 floors, the other 15.

It was very sad. It felt rather like being in a very low security prison for ex-politicians. No noise, no chatter, no life. No people.

I dread to think how many staff they’ve already had to lay off, and how many may go in the coming weeks. I can only imagine a good few of them are sitting at home wondering what they’re going to do for a living; I say this with no authority, but I’d be amazed if workers’ rights schemes exist in Thailand to protect dishwashers and wait staff.

Good as it’s been for us, the actions of the PAD have, at least in the short term, crippled this city; I must assume that the rest of the country is suffering a similar fate. Tourism accounts for some 6% of Thailand’s economy; in the areas we’ve seen – the islands, central Bangkok – it must be in the double digits. From what we can tell, that has been reduced to almost nil.

Our only hope is that Westerners have a short memory; that now that this story has disappeared from the ADD-afflicted media tourists will once more flock to this amazing country. Bangkok – indeed the whole of Thailand – holds a unique position, in my experience: it is the perfect fusion of East and West, a city/country that is still very much Asian, a place where you truly can experience the “real” culture by wandering just a few blocks from your hotel, yet somewhere that Westerners fit in very easily; almost everybody speaks enough English to help you out, transport is relatively easy and cheap, the range, quality and cost of accommodation is superb, and of course the people are out of this world. Singapore and KL are far too built-up and Westernised, Phnom Penh and Hanoi perhaps a bit too grubby and difficult – Bangkok, for now, seems to have the perfect blend.

(That may be a bit unfair on Hanoi, which is actually a very beautiful city.)

The strange thing about the timing of this event is the court ruling on Tuesday which effectively dissolved the ruling party anyway. One wonders why the PAD didn’t just wait?… But then one wonders – again, without any authority – about the independence of the judiciary, and whether this wasn’t timed rather too well to force the decision in the PAD’s favour. If anyone out there has any informed insight, please share it.

For now, I know only one thing for sure: this city, and this country, needs tourists. I will be back: I say that with absolute conviction. Please don’t cancel your holiday, if you had one planned. Please don’t think about going somewhere else, if you were thinking about coming here. And please, come here, if you weren’t even thinking about it.

Thailand remains one of the most incredible countries it has ever been my pleasure to visit. I’ll be sad to leave tomorrow.