So I was speaking to some friends online, and two of them asked about the whole political situation in Thailand. I'm nowhere near an expert on the matter, but I'll try to sum up the situation as succinctly as possible, primarily for my own benefit.

First, The Kingdom of Thailand has a King (surprise!), Rama IX. To say he's popular is an understatement, he is absolutely adored by everyone, and is seen as a father figure. He's the current longest serving head of state. There's also the military. They are also very popular, and along with the King, show stability in an uncertain political environment.

So, backing up to 2001, there's this politician called Thaksin Shinawatra. He won by appealing to rural voters, an up-until-then untapped source of votes. He also spent a lot of money on infrastructure projects that, well, some were more successful than others. But unfortunately, there was a lot of cronyism as the contracts were doled out to his friends and family. Furthermore, speaking negatively against the King was and still is illegal in Thailand, but he started to enforce it more strictly and with some loose interpretation. Eventually, all this started to boil over into protests and riots. While Thaksin was at the UN in New York, the military stepped in, said "Alright, stop it. We're running things from now on." Thaksin ran away to Dubai. The military took a year or so to draft a new constitution, and had another election. There was this other guy elected, fairly unremarkable. Then for the next election, a candidate named Yingluck Shinawatra (incidentally, a Kentucky State University grad) appeared.

Yup, same last name, the sister of Thaksin. She also went with a populist agenda, suggesting and then implementing a (some would say unsustainable) rice subsidy. This was of course crazy popular in rural areas, so she won. Bangkok and the other cities weren't keen on this, as that money had to come from somewhere, and it was from them. In addition, all the corruption and cronyism her brother started came back. Eventually the two groups came to identify themselves as Yellow Shirts (Urban) and Red Shirts (Rural), and there were protests for and against the current government for a long time in Bangkok. Just like last time, things started to boil over. After an investigation, Yingluck was convicted of corruption charges, as was the Deputy PM and a bunch of others. Basically so many people in the government were arrested, it couldn't really function anymore. Once again the military stepped in, took control, and that leads us to now. I don't know too much about the current leader, other than the times I've seen him on TV (subtitled) he seems like a levelheaded guy with some good ideas. The King has given the new, temporary government his blessing, but, it all remains to be seen. Regardless, things are apparently more stable than it has been in a long time, so we'll see if that remains when they make the transition back to a Democracy this year.

So, enough history. After having Chinese friends cook for me... maybe 3 or 4 times since I've been here, it was finally my turn. So I had a bunch of friends over, and the menu was: 1) Pumpkin French Fries 2) Thai Chicken Curry 3) Spaghetti 4) Cincinnati Chili 5) Oreo Chocolate Truffles. Overall I feel it was a success, and I just finished the last of the leftovers.

I've been up to a few things, but not really quite as exciting as New Years. I went to an art show, which was nice, but really just an excuse to drink. There was also a VERY overpriced hippie market selling "vintage" stuff. Really it was just new stuff that's been done with a retro look and thrown down stairs a few time. It was near the train station, which had a bunch of cats that apparently live in the ticket office at night, as they had no problem moving back and forth through the talky-hole... thing.

Right, for slightly more interesting times, we met a fellow named Koray, from Turkey. He's a super awesome dude who was travelling her for a few weeks, and really put Istanbul on my map of "places to teach next". I had a coworker in China who taught there in the past, and he spoke very well of it aside from it being a lot of work. But, good gods, I've done so little work here maybe it would be a good thing. We went to the Currency Museum, which is apparently a thing right next to Khao San Road. And surprisingly, it was totally free, and super super nice. Those things never go together in Thailand. It was small, but they were expanding, because I think it's brand new. There was a show in a cave with vibrating rocks, so... that's nice. You could also hold up a part of your brochure in front of coins, and a projector would show an animated overlay of the coin face. This is nothing short of black magic, and totally cool. I should've taken a video. Anyway, they do it with a Xbox Kinect, and I was very impressed. After we went over to Wat Intharawihan, which I had visited on my first weekend in Bangkok - But I had totally forgotten that it exists. Essentially it's a free (yay!) giant Buddha. Man, like that's unique in Thailand. (eye roll) That evening we all went to the bar and played Cards Against Humanity. Which, man. I never realized this, but even people fluent in English like Ella and Koray could have trouble with that game. It's super focused on American pop culture. Like, how would anyone outside the US know who Maury Povich is? Also, I got really drunk. Honestly it's the first time I consider myself "drunk" in Thailand. Sure I've gone out drinking, had a buzz, but I was always borderline "Eh, I could drive if I waited an hour or so." Not this time. It was full on drunktown, which, man, that's been a long time. Still doesn't come close to LIT night at Ryan's those 4, 5 years ago.