A short note on the Thai coup.

Lets get the politics out of the way. From what I can tell this looks more like the 1974 Portuguese coup where a corrupt and vicious regime was overthrown and replaced relatively quickly with a democratic system ( interesting sidebar the signal for the coup to begin was the singing of the Portuguese entry in the Eurovison Song Contest) than the 1973 Chilean coup which of course led to nearly 20 years of brutal dictatorship. Of course only time will tell.

Now to the important stuff. When I heard about the coup my heart skipped a little beat at the thought of all the "travellers" being crushed under the heel of the military. Ha ha thought I is that a real enough experience for you? Is that Ethnic enough? Do you feel you've really connected with the country? fantasies of floppy haired ponces from the South East being herded into compounds, the sound of jackboots matched by the sound of thousands of flip flops as they are prodded with bayonets. Trust me I have a huge imagination so the many and various tortures I created in my head kept me up much of last night. However now that I think on it it will in fact only make them even more insufferable. "Yah it was really cool I mean obviously if you've never been hung by your thumbs and beaten with bamboo sticks you really can't relate but it was a totally spiritual thing".

Aaaaargh!! I hate "travellers" let me clarify I don't hate backpackers who are a different species. Backpackers go to new and interesting places and get drunk in them - "and here's a picture of of Dave vomiting in front of the Sphinx". Backpackers make no pretence of being any more enlightened or connected with the world as a whole, they simply travel for fun and experience and to meet new people and of course get drunk with them. "Travellers" on the other hand talk as if they have acquired a new and greater understanding of the world by spending 2 weeks sleeping in a youth hostel in Cambodia. Their belief is that anyone who has not patronised some of the poorest people on earth by beating them down to the lowest price for a rickshaw ride cannot possibly understand poverty and oppression. So if they survive the coup they will be back to give us all the breadth of their experience and accumulated wisdom. Well I say shun them. Turn your back on them. When they start to pontificate hum loudly (I find the Dambusters March works particulary well) eventually they will leave you alone. It might take a while but eventually they will get the message and when they do you can go out and get drunk with some backpackers.