Coup in Thailand

This morning as we ate our breakfast we were made of aware of the Coup that had occurred in Bangkok. Our friend phoned us to tell us that there would be no school today, and I was very confused. She explained a bit about what had happened so far, but I didn't understand at the time. I immediately got on the computer to read the news. There are so many places to read the news on the Internet, but the places I went were:

CNN News - These articles are all written by people in the states talking with people in Thailand.

The Nation - We are told this news source is here in Thailand, and it is a bit more conservative in nature.

Bangkok Post - An English language newspaper that is available to us here in Thailand.

Please remember the news agency's source and location. I try to read many sources about one event to help me understand the overall event.

What I understand so far is that there was a Coup about 24 hours ago. This Coup has taken the Prime Minister here in Thailand out of office. This also means that his cabinet and many other political positions were also released from office. There is one Privy Council that was not removed from office.

There have been either 17 or 18 previous Coups in the past 100 years, so this is not new to Thailand. Harry talked to one man today that said that he remembered 4 of them. From what I have read, it has been about 15 years since the last Coup.

Currently, General Sonthi has said that he will appoint a Prime Minister within two weeks, and many other cabinet members. This group of people will work this year to write a new constitution for Thailand. They hope to have a democratic election in about one year. He is assuring everyone that democracy is still in place. He also assurres everyone that foreign affairs will not change.

There are many interesting facts about General Sonthi available on the news websites. We are interested in seeing the effects in the future. Please continue to pray for the government here. Please pray for the new leaders who will decide how to run Thailand in the future.

Today in Mae Sai we noticed that the border was closed to Burma along with governement offices, banks, and schools were also closed. Most of the activity here today was due to the rain we have received in the last 48 hours. The river which borders Thailand and Burma flooded both sides of the border. On the Burma side we understand that the water was about neck high (ok...that's about 4.5 feet), and here the water was probably about the same close to the river. We saw many people putting sand into bags to help to guide the water to the canals in the city. Many homes were flooded close to the border. Harry said he saw people just hanging out waiting on the water to recede so they could clean up, and then there were other people who were diligently cleaning as the water was rushing through their houses. We do have a few pictures that I will post very soon, so check back for more information on this.

The kids loved having the day off from school. They played with toys and watched movies all day long. They were content to just be at home. Harry and I had our language study as normal. It was a cool day here with all the rain, and we enjoyed it. The Thais say that it is cool, and we just say it is comfortable.

That's it for today. I will write more tomorrow.