Unfortunately, our Bangkok portion of this SE Asia trip fell victim to the protestors, to our great dismay. While we weren't worried about our safety because the protests are mostly peaceful, we were concerned about just getting to our hotel, which was right at the central intersection of the protests. Even more than that, we knew that we would not be able to drive our various meetings around the city.
Consequently, we are still in Manila, headed to see the huge former U.S. Naval base at Subic Bay, now a major Philippine Economic Development Zone. The Philippines kicked us out of Subic Bay when our lease was up, but our other stop in the area, the former Clark Air Force Base, was devastated by ash from Mt. Pinatubo, which forced our retreat. Today, it, too, is an economic development zone. We will visit there tomorrow before driving back to Manila and flying to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat.
Fortunately, we had friends on the ground in Bangkok who were walking through the crowds and could keep us abreast of events. They at first suggested we take the sky train from the airport to our hotel, but, when it became clear that movement was virtually impossible, and we would be scrambling down from the elevated train to the street with all our luggage, and then trying to drag it all many blocks to our hotel, they suggested we visit another time.
We learned so much from a series of excellent speakers here in Manila. I'll report on what we learned next.
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