This is the third time in my Asian saga in which I've encountered the subject of bombs.
The first was in Manila, Philippines, the second in Nagoya, Japan and now here in the deep south of Thailand.
Southern violence by Muslim militants, in the past, have mostly taken place in the three border provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat (all further south of me) until just recently.
At 8:25 p.m. on April 3, an explosion rocked the Carrefour department store on Phetkasem road in Hat Yai. Shortly thereafter, bombs went off at Hatyai airport (where two people were killed) and at the Green World Palace Hotel in Songkhla city, a hotel I recently stayed at overnight. All these places are fairly close to home, seeing that I travel to Hat Yai on a fairly frequent basis and have friends in Songkhla city.
What to think?
Well, I for one realize that the chance of my getting killed while crossing one of the busy roads here in southern Thailand, or from eating tainted food from one of the many street hawker stands, is most probably greater than my number coming up on a bomb...but, it's something I'm definitely going to keep my eye on in the local news.
The violence in the Deep South has not been squelched by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's paper crane episode, so I'm wondering what else he has up his sleeve. I hope it involves something a bit more aggressive than dumping trash on the heads of angry Muslims.
-Jeeem-
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