Thailand
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |
No Comments | April 21st, 2004 | Trackback
The troubled southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala have now had rail service suspended because of the killing of a railway official by gunmen on motorcycles. The killing came a few days after workers in Pattani thwarted an effort to derail a train. Officials blame the violence in the area on Islamic separatists. Martial law remains in effect in all three provinces and travel here should be deferred.
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Thailand
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |
No Comments | April 13th, 2004 | Trackback
Bangkok’s new subway opened for a six-day trial April 12 to show residents what to expect when the mass transit system officially opens in June after long delays. The first section to go into operation will be a 12-mile stretch from the northern suburbs to Chinatown. The full network is scheduled for completion by the end of the decade and will encompass 69 miles or track. Bangkok has some of the worst gridlock in the world and a skytrain that opened in 1998 to much fanfare proved to be a failure because it didn’t reach the suburbs and was too expensive for the average Thai. Bangkok’s traffic problems eased during the economic crisis in the late 1990s but have returned with a strengthening economy.
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Thailand
By Larry Habegger | Permalink |
No Comments | April 7th, 2004 | Trackback
The Thai New Year festival of Songkran occurs April 12-15, and security forces are on high alert in the far south of the country because of several attacks by Islamic separatists since January. Some 55 people have been killed this year in the provinces near the Malaysian border, mostly security or government officials, but a blast in the border town of Sungai Kolok March 27 injured 28 civilians, many of them Malaysian tourists. Malaysia’s prime minister warned citizens to avoid crossing the border into Thailand, and Thai officials are doing everything possible to prevent any large-scale attacks during the festival. Of grave concern is the recent theft of 1.4 tons of explosives from a quarry in Yala province. Martial law remains in force in the three southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala. Songkran is celebrated by sprinkling water on elders in a show of respect, but usually becomes an all-out water fight with anyone on the street fair game. As such, any disturbance might be easy to disguise.
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