Unsettling times

I was walking down a dark lane towards my condo last night. A work friend had just dropped me off. In the gloom I made out the figure of my boyfriend, heading towards me.

'I am going to get food,' said Maiyuu.

I stopped him to ask for a kiss first. No one was watching, so he extended his cheek.

Maiyuu has the most beautiful eyes, I noticed last night. How come I have never spotted that before?

He also has terrific eyesight. Mine is horrible, and deteriorates further by the year.

-
'Everywhere I go these days, people follow me, keeping an eye on my movements,' Maiyuu told me.

What?

I thought Maiyuu was being clever with words. He likes to talk in riddles, to fool his silly farang boyfriend.

'A group of gays follows me whenever I go outside, and keep an eye on me even when I am in the condo,' he said.

Maiyuu had just returned from the market, where he went to get food.

Food sellers in the market itself had closed, or he did not fancy the look of anything there. So he went further afield in search of something to eat.

'Sometimes when I go out, they circle the block 10 or 15 times as they follow me...they are teasing,' he said.

'Do you know who it is?' I asked.

'Yes...they live in Lad Phrao, but they are staying around here...possibly with a woman friend from this condo,' he said.

Maiyuu reeled off a few names. He has mentioned them before. Former friends with whom he had now fallen out?

Strange.

'Do they want to hurt you?' I asked.

'I am not scared of them. If they have bad intentions, bad things are come back at them, sooner or later,' he said philosophically.

Maiyuu took me to the window of his room, which overlooks the market.

'You see the guys gathered way over there, in that opening in the street opposite us?'

The street runs at right angles to the market. It is separated from us by a large block of slum housing.

I squinted, screwed up my eyes. It was dark, and I could barely make them out. Maiyuu had trained his eagle-like eyesight on them.

'That's them. They have left their car and are watching us,' he said.

'Do they know you have a farang boyfriend?'I asked.

'Yes.'

'Well, would they like me to sit on them? I'll make their eyes pop out,' I said.

Maiyuu claims he is not scared, but I notice he checked the lock on the door twice before bed.

-
It's cool outside. Foreign tourists trapped in Bangkok by the forced closure of its two main airports are probably enjoying the weather; it feels just like home.

The political troubles, however, are fraying people's nerves. In the bus yesterday, a noisy group of men in their 30s spooked fellow passengers. I was sitting at the back, close to the noise-makers.

The men were talking loudly, but were not doing any harm. However, passengers in front kept looking back to see what they were doing.

I doubt they were supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy, the militant group which has taken over the city's airports. They were speaking in the Esan (northeastern) dialect. If anything, they were probably supporters of the government, not the PAD.

Maybe they were just drunk. Normally they would not attract much attention, but now...

At work the other night, we heard a loud bang.

A news story appeared on the internet saying a bomb had gone off in a market close to my work.

Sixteen people were injured in the grenade attack, which was unconnected to the PAD protest.

Stall owners had gathered in the market to oppose a plan by landowners to redevelop the area.

Yet another group with vested interests has spotted a weakness in the system, and is taking the law into its own hands rather than tolerate having to share with others. I wonder if they were inspired by the lawless example set by the PAD, which is illegally occupying the city's airports?