An Unforgettable Countdown

... that didn't happen.

Well, I decided to spend this year's New Year's eve at a foreign country. And which city is happening, cheap and nearby? Bangkok!

I had a very fortunate New Year's Eve. I made some new friends and survived a bomb scare. So where did the good luck start? It probably started the moment I stepped off the hotel's tuk tuk on my 1st day there. 2 humongous droppings fell from the sky onto my right shoulder. I couldn't believe my good luck. I looked up and... you guessed it... saw the ass of a pigeon perched on the power cables above. Damn! It must have eaten too much Tom Yum. I looked at the damage on my T-shirt and had to hop back onto the tuk tuk to go back and change. At least I just had to change my shirt and not wash my hair.

Now, fast forward to NYE. I had a good but painful Thai Herbal Compress massage at Healthland for 750 baht. Then had a rest back at the hotel. All in preparation for the night's party. Left for the Central World and reached there at about 5.30pm. The roads were already closed and the crowds were forming. I had wanted to go to one of the beer gardens to have dinner, beer and live music. But the Heineken 2-seaters were all sold out. And the Singha's had a very long queue, even with the 2-person tables at a whopping 2000baht. We can spend the 2000 on drinks and food, but it's still too expensive. Ok, better change plans.

While waiting for my friend to come back from the DTAC shop, I met 3 friendly Thai nurses. Had a nice chat with them while waiting for my friend. And we got invited to join them to go see the Countdown concert.

The concert was starting soon and we made our way onto the road where the concert was held, squeezing through lots of people and narrow walkways. The show started with a speech, then a kind of Star Search contest. But only for males. All these handsome or pretty boys (they were just 18 to 24 years old) strutted their stuff on stage. All were at least 1.78m tall. And the audience were so eager to get a closer look at them. I can see there's a future idol in there.

After some more performances, our new friends told us some news that absolutely chilled my heart. They've received calls from family and friends that some bombs exploded at 6+pm at Victory Monument and killed 2 people. That was some distance away, but the implications struck through. My 1st reaction was disbelief, but soon realise that it was a big possibility. We discussed if we should stay or go. We decided to stay. After all, this area was fenced off and there were police checking on everyone who entered the concert area. But soon, we decided it was better to leave early for dinner and left the place.

As we were still making our way through the crowds, we saw many policemen in the concert area itself, seemingly looking for something or someone. Then, a few seconds later, the people behind us started screaming and running away! I was stunned. I was trying to see what was going on but my friends have already started running and were beckoning me to follow! We just kept running till we left the road and reached Erawan. We did not hear any more music and smelled some gunpowder. But there wasn't any loud bangs. So what caused the panic? Probably the crowd was already highly wound up and any alarm would cause them to take flight.

We took shelter inside McDonald's. Although we didn't have Happy Meals, we were noticeably happier after our dinner. 2 of the girls went back home to rest as they've to work the next day. 1 continued with her original plan to go another place for a party. And we 2 guys left for RCA for countdown. It was still early as it was just 9+.

At the entrance to RCA, the police had a road block and were inspecting every car that went in. That gave us some assurance. And at the entrance to the club, Route 66, they had 2 bouncers to check all the ladies' bags and the guys' pockets. Well, that, and a little alcohol, and the party mood soon got us to forget about the bombs, at least for the time being.

We were expecting a countdown, but midnight passed and the DJ did not do anything. The dancing and drinking carried on as per normal. 2006 just "quietly" ended.

As our flight was at 7.05am, 1 Jan 2007, we were planning to stay up all night. Too bad the party ended at 2am as usual and not 6am as rumoured. We hanged around by the roadside with a long line of roadside food stalls and had our supper there. How convenient. And many of the party goers congregate there.

We left the place at about 3am. Cabs were unusually hard to find. We even paid 400baht to our next driver who took us to the airport. Oh well, it was 5am in the morning, and New Year's day, and bombs were in the city.

Other than the panic running incident, everything seemed normal and calm. Even at the airport. It was only when I returned to SG and checked the news onlne that I realised that more bombs went off at midnight. One was at Central World, where we were watching the concert! I'm glad we left the place early.

I consider myself fortunate on a few counts:
1. missed out on the beer garden tables but got something more valuable: friendship
2. lucky to be alive and in 1 piece!

On hindsight, it was probably foolhardy to continue hanging out at crowded places after news of the bomb. But we should not let terror control our lives and let the perpetrators win. And I'm glad many people were still out celebrating the New Year. I will return to Bangkok.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Peace~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~