this made me laugh?

anyway, we're sneaking out of the hospital tomorrow to take con's mom here. con is the only expat patient in the hospital. i'm the only beard in the hospital. she limps a lot and sometimes wears butterfly wings. con's mom won't go anywhere without her furby. there's not an ounce of inconspicuousness about us and the army guys at the front door carry large guns. whatever. vive!

pt party

i went with con to physical therapy. frankly, i don't know why she hangs out there so much. it's all hospital-y and depressing. group of debbie downers.

downers.. until someone flicked on the MOGWAI:




you should probably watch in full screen, high quality. my wife is very groovy.

and.. video.

sometimes it doesn't load all the way. keep trying. the music is appropriately melodramatic (and our facial expressions), and almost made me giggle. also has footage of us arriving to the hosptial, which brought rushing back forgotten memories of bunnies, daisies and deep paralyzing panic.

click here.

"contance"; 15 minutes starts now

con heard today that she might be asked to present an award at the thai mtv music awards. we've steadily been getting more and more notice around here. apparently, here's why:

i read the nation every day.. somehow missed this interesting, relevant piece published a week ago:

Jobs Non Jobs

US visitor among street clash victims

By Preecha Saardsorn,
Wannapa Phetdee
The Nation
Published on October 22, 2008

The October 7 street clashes did not claim only antigovernment protesters and police as victims. Among the hundreds of injured was at least one unlucky foreigner.

Contance Dykhuizen, an American visitor in her mid20s, went with her husband to watch the confrontation on Phichai Road when something exploded near her right foot. They tried to run for safety, but Contance found her right leg was bleeding and she couldn't move.

She was taken to Phramongkutklao Hospital.

This was her first visit to Thailand, arriving a month and a half ago.

The couple work as volunteers at the Education for Life Foundation in Phayao province to help provide education for northern children suffering from poverty, lack of parental support, child labour, prostitution and drug addiction.

"My husband has a journalism degree and we both like to travel and learn more about culture and politics. We went there to see what's going on," Contance said.

Both her legs and feet were wounded, her right leg severely.

Colonel Peerapol Pokpong, head of the hospital's Centre of Public Relations and Special Affairs, said she must stay at the hospital for two more weeks.

"Her wounds are now improved, but some are infected. Doctors are treating the infected wounds and will perform surgery to dress the wounds within two weeks. We have teams of physical therapists and psychiatrists to help her," the doctor said.

Contance agreed with critics who said the police should use better kinds of tear gas for crowd control as the type used on that day hurt people.

"I am very grateful for the government for taking care of me; but I find the situation with the tear gas very unfortunate," she said.

"It is unfortunate too that both sides have chosen to resort to violence and I wish that things could be more peaceful in the future for both sides."

Despite the bad experience, the two foreigners insist they still want to stay in Thailand to continue helping children.

They were afraid that if the violence continues, it will rebound on tourism here, as the flareups make people in their country nervous.

"We're telling everybody that it's very safe here - if you stay outside the very specific protest area," her husband said.

###

i'm flattered, and the article was accurate. but all the attention still makes me feel like this:

news:

• things might blow up tomorrow (pray for rain).

• prime minister somchai is attending a summit in beijing. the 2006 coup happened while the prime minister (takshin) was in new york for a summit. rumors..

• this lady sang for us at the hospital

• none of this matters because constance is walking. without crutches. on her feet. even if only for a few meters at a time. and really that's all i care about. i slept for 11 hours last night, partly, i think, from resulting stress relief.
  

• doctors say stay in the hospital for 7-10 more days, and bangkok another month for checkups.

• constance's mother is here, much to our relief and delight.
  

protest day II

the protest directly in front of parliment. sorry for the shaky video.. i was all adrenaline-y.




and.. this ridiculous scene. when i reached the outskirts, about 15 minutes walking from this spot, heard another series of loud blasts. this was the spot (the side gate to parliament) where the first clash had happened early that morning (where the police had first used the tear gas, blowing off someone's legs, to clear a path for senators and the prime minister to get in the building for an important meeting).

somehow or another, the protesters had pushed the police out to block access again, trapping the senators inside. they slashed the tires and commandeered about 15 riot police trucks and five or six more buses, and a PAD pickup full of riot police shields was pulling away when i arrived. tear gas was still very thick. the whole thing was just festive and strange.




the tunes were very catchy. you can understand why i was there.

protest night

protest before the teargas started. not unlike a texas football rally. very gold, and almost beautiful.





(credit: constance)

greyness

just realized i mis-linked to this call for nonviolence earlier.. which is fine since i wanted to go back and re-highlight it anyway. i loved this piece:

In every war, everyone thinks he is right. The reality is always the opposite: everyone can easily be wrong in any war. The man who lost his leg yesterday in the new outbreak of political violence can blame anyone - Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin Shinawatra, People's Alliance for Democracy co-leader Chamlong Srimuang, overreacting police or even himself.

and..

With the "elephants" clashing head-on, there is no time for the "grass" to think. The latter can do nothing but follow the guidance that serves anyone but themselves. Yesterday, police had to follow orders, while protesters had to march and seize Parliament. It does not matter that the protesters were provocative or the police were violent. This is a war, so "we" must be right, and "they" must be wrong.

the nation is a generally well-reported but poorly written english newspaper here. the grammar, etc. is forgiveable, as the paper is written almost entirely by thais (hence the solid reporting). but its urban professional middle class reporting staff is also the primary demographic of the PAD (the protesting group), so the paper tends to be rabidly anti-thaksin and anything else PPP (the party in power). so.. in a polarized environment, nice to read something articulating the dangers of absolutes in a confusing situation. and.. selfishly, makes me feel like less of an idealist/outsider for thinking similarly.

also.. in searching for this op-ed, stumbled upon this piece, written by some of the senators who came to visit con in the hospital the same day prime minister somchai showed up.

news; yul brynner hospital

• con had surgery yesterday. the doctors seemed satisfied. she came out of it nauseous and dizzy, but her ankle seems oddly better (i almost fainted looking at it. i've been looking at it for a week. guess the shock/adrenaline is wearing off). starting physical therapy on monday... just like when she started physical therapy last monday. square one.
  

• i hate, hate it when she's in surgery.
  

• this made me more sad than any of the other deaths in bangkok recently. wrong?

• somchai's days are numbered. i feel a little sad for the guy. wrong? (this is all very confusing). you always remember your first head of state:

• some station ran a news story about constance's pink flip flops yesterday morning, after doing a series of tests on them to prove that it was in fact explosive chinese teargas that caused all this (the u.s. teargas was soft and pleasant-seeming, not unlike being pelted with a basket of warm muffins. those WTO protesters have it easy). neither con nor i cared enough to get up at 6:30 am to watch.

• the police showed up today with sudden interest, leading me to believe that the news story was in fact broadcast, despite our indifference. the police chief apologized. con's mom's hotel will probably be comped.
  

• our hospital (phramongkutklao) is translated in english to (king mongkut hospital), which, therefore, means our hospital was named after the king from the king and i. his old palace is out back, next to the waffle stand.
  

• while waiting for pictures to load right now, i am running sprints across the roof of said hospital. there's a breeze, a lightning storm, a strong wifi signal and a 360 view of the city. i'm not wearing pants, and the thai government owes me at least this much.
  

• this is a picture of me at the protests that tuesday:

protest day

common enemies unite nations, or "two buddhist nations warring over a hindu temple."

yeesh. thailand's on a roll.

better news: happy birthday sam! best african brother i've ever had.

woo privacy

refreshing huh. i feel like we should all walk around my blog naked.

um.. thanks for cooperating. this is a very confusing time, and not easy to watch ourselves slowly lose control of this story. had a few anonymous comments on this blog.. nothing really threatening.. just mildly hostile, that made me rethink the reality of how this all might be perceived here in thailand.

here's an explanation i just wrote in an email to some:

I've decided to make my blog (philliporchard.blogspot.com) invitation-only for a bit. I'd like to write frankly about what happened in Bangkok last week, without concern for our safety. I am not expecting problems as is, but the situation here is pretty charged with a lot of anger on all sides. We want to be able to talk about it with friends and family back home, without getting involved politically here. Additionally, the government (embarrassed) is paying for all of Constance's health care, and we don't want the level of care to erode in any way.

Con's blog will remain open to all at congraced.blogspot.com

news.

articles that help clarify things:

1) what the hell was in those tear gas canisters

2) who might be responsible for parts this

3) god save the anteaters.

4) and.. an excellent call against violence (and against us vs. them thinking)

all sorts of rumors about what happened, and very few people are taking enough responsibility from either side.

two cops were shot that tuesday. another run over by a car and still another stabbed to death with a flag pole. the police, for their part, were quite obviously using illegal tear gas and/or using the tear gas grenades improperly, and people died. by nightfall, the police were probably skiddish and angry. the PAD was skiddish and inflamed. they met in front of the police headquarters (we didn't realize this at the time), and the clash was inevitable. we took a wrong turn, got too curious and too close.

then there's rumors about plain-clothed police infiltrating the protesters and then using illegal weapons (ping pong bombs?), giving the police/government just cause to crackdown and reclaim government house. then there's rumors about PAD members exploding stun grenades within its own ranks to whip up anti-government sentiment. then still more about insurgents from the south joining in and creating chaos, destabilizing what should've been a more or less peaceful demonstration. and i still don't know what was behind this car bomb:

(credit: constance)

most are surely just rumors, but that's a glimpse of the polarizing confusion thai people are facing.

so.. we're staying out of it as much as we can. we are not thai and can only pretend to understand politics here to a very limited degree. i don't know who is responsible, or what really happened. i don't know how much prime minister somchai was involved, what the PAD did to provoke things, or if the police/government knew the teargas would be so damaging.. and only sort of care.

but there is no doubt that my wife was hit by some sort of explosive tear gas, and that it was being fired directly at groups of people. for two minutes we watched sparking projectiles fly into the crowds. gas choked us when she was hit, and her legs prove the damage.

we just want those responsible to acknowledge blame to prevent further tragedies. we love thailand and want to see it thrive. this fighting is so stupid.

last tuesday.

so.. might as well start heavy:

when the teargas bombs started, con and i both had the presence of mind of pull out our cameras. con had the extra presence of mind to use video. it was that kind of non-panicky ah crap we should quit poking the alligator with a stick kind of feeling. here's what it looked like before it got really nasty, about a minute and a half before my wife of four months got hit by a bomb.

this video is a bit chilling. i probably shouldn't post it... but here's reality:



and it just got worse from there. i sigh a lot these days.

notes on blogging.

• if i keep this about facts, about the story, about history and politics and current events and faith and logic, then i don't have to deal with my ominous undercurrent of panic and regret. if i appear callous, overeager, bored, bitter, exhausted, confused or deceivingly healed, bear with me — i probably am.

• this blog is my own opinion, not necessarily reflective of education for life (con's foundation), or even my wife, whose recollection and opinions concerning what happened on tuesday, october 9, might differ wildly. she's the one still bleeding. not me.

• we wish to remain uninvolved with thai politics, despite our presence at the pad protest. we do not align ourselves with any side. we were there simply as observers, as writers, as expats in thailand seeking a greater understanding of our new home.

• members of government or the media who wish to speak with us may contact me at phillip.orchard@gmail.com.

sunday.

con's doing better, little by little. can't stand or walk. but can slink along the wall with only a little bit of help. she's discouraged, but i call it progress. "marry a girl that can slink," they always said. done.

our hospital is huge and modern. here's the view from our room. this is what you get when you have an embarrassed government behind your healthcare:


and here's from the roof, where i get the best wifi signal, where i'm sitting now, and where i listened to texas/ou last night (what a delightful distraction that turned into):


and as far as we can tell con is getting good care. the language barrier is maddening, but we feel like we're in the best situation we could be, considering. we've felt that way since moments after con got hit, when those two heroes picked her up and ran.

in addition to healing, please pray for wisdom and discernment. we have a bunch of legal/circumstantial/political decisions to make.

also... tomorrow (monday) morning, a march on the police headquarters is planned (same spot where we got caught). we can see the area from our hospital room. the anticipation of seeing teargas is making me sick.

the violence in all this is so stupid. please pray against it.

last tuesday

update

hey everyone. we're ok. con's hurting, but we're ok.

i'll post more soon when i find better wifi access. i don't what else to do but write about all this. for now.. read con's account here.

for news accounts of what was happening that day, read coverage from the nation and the bangkok post.

protests; tear gas.

big news in bangkok today:

woke up this morning to reports that the police had tear-gassed the ongoing protests that led to last month's state of emergency. our hotel is only two or three blocks away from the protests so... figured i might as well go meddle.

heard several blasts while walking there. turns out this is what happened.

spent the day snooping around with eyes stinging and snapping pictures. will post those soon.

debate.

way too tight restrictions on the debate tomorrow, as agreed to by both candidates. pretty lame, in my opinion. anyone can stand there and rattle off talking points. it's when pressed for further detail when you get to see a candidate really think.

doesn't really help or hurt either candidate (a la palin v biden), as both are pretty equally mediocre debaters and pretty bad in a sound bite news culture. hurts the debate overall, though.

bangkok.

tuk tuk.

no politics when u nude.

sunset worship.


i care about the russian river. amazing. they love northern california here too. here's another neat picture from the russian river (also known as the day lorne owed me 200 ad clicks):

blame the media..

.. taken to a whole new level. we've seen this guy's signs everywhere here.

movie update: our movie theater, where we saw bangkok dangerous, was featured in bangkok dangerous. meta! probably the best movie of the year.

bangkok; strangerous

in bangkok, at a starbucks, looking at a 7-11 and a pizza hut, just around the corner from an outback steakhouse. it looks like seattle.

came to bangkok for meetings, etc. but really came for the food. have had cheese with every meal. spent more money on food and coffee today alone than a week in phayao.

bus to bangkok was double-decker, had a stewardess, and zohan dubbed in thai. we still got the gist. we would not have boarded such a bus in india.

missed paul banks' show in austin last night. hate missing paul banks shows. go see paul banks and the carousels next weekend (possibly) at mohawk in austin.

here are hurricane ike pictures. strange how distant and unreal it seemed from here. concerning the following picture of haiti (where we visited last summer, and found to be almost hauntingly poor)... constance: "i wouldn't want to be in haiti during a light drizzle."


related, im pretty sure our hotel was nearly swept away in a flash flood last night.

seriously. who else is waiting anxiously to illegally download from a foreign country next week's project runway finale.

going to see bangkok dangerous tonight. IN BANGKOK. irony is thick thick thick. delicious.

here's a neat picture of my mother in oregon. happy anniversary last week!