BANGKOK: Been and gone...

If Bangkok was a city on the edge of something big - mass disobedience, military coup, or both - then the only people getting really bothered about it were the Westerners. On a brief 44 hour stop in the city over the weekend, the only real agitation we came across were some stranded tourists who couldn't find a way of flying home. Even then, a few seemed to relish it, what with the Thai government handing out 2,000 Bhat a day, and airlines offering to pay for fancy hotel rooms... We made do with our 300 Bhat a night hostel.

We had never really planned to stay in Bangkok for long - it was only a stepping stone to Cambodia. When trouble started to flare in the week before arrival, we read as much news and travel advice as possible - enough to get by in a quick Radio Cymru interview anyway - and arranged to stay away from the centre. It was then almost a bit of an anti-climax when our bus rolled into the city and we found everything running as normal. As we drove past the Don Muang airport we could see about a dozen of the yellow shirted PAD supporters - but most were just relaxing in the sun and eating their lunch, whilst being surrounded on all sides by car tyres and barbed wire.

Apart from that, Bangkok with all its vices - heavy traffic, neon-lit bars, Tesco Express - seemed in full swing. Much of our first night was taken up with trying (unsuccessfully) to find a screen which would show the Wales v. Australia game. On Sunday we went to see the world's biggest reclining Buddha (to add to our collection of the largest seating and standing Buddhas in Japan and China...,) followed by a trip to the Royal Palace. Reverence for the king is quite striking in Thailand - his face is found beaming down from posters across the country, in a variety of poses that include playing with dogs, taking photos and sweating heavily. His palace, as you might expect, is spectacular.

Its King Bhumibol's 81st birthday later this week - and it now seems that the airport protests will be finished in time for the annual national holiday. We'll miss the celebrations as we've now crossed the border into dusty Cambodia and the temples of Angkor - not too sad to be away from Bangkok, and hopeful that the 'crisis' will be fully resolved before we have to return just before Christmas.