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Photography by contributing retorter Amanda Maddock
The red shirts were out in force… this can only mean one thing here in Thailand – Christmas has arrived! An Xmas parade took place outside my hotel yesterday and it was lovely to kick the festive season off here in Bangkok.
I’m surprised how many people fitted into that one bus.
With only a 0.5% Christian population in the country; they must have all been here celebrating. Impressive too, that they’d co-ordinated themselves to wear red shirts. Sooo Christmassy!
On a serious note however, there seemed to be an element of politics weaved through the yule tide proceedings. I’m no expert in the Thai language, but from what I could gather; those wearing ‘red shirts’ represented Santa’s elves wanting to be freed from the shackles of their oppressive master. A noble cause…
The photo below I think might be Mrs. Claus. She clearly has a military presence and I can only assume uses her combat training to control the elf population.
Also possibly Santa in his pre-beard years.
Some jumped right into the festivities, donning neckerchiefs and coming in fancy dress.
The fancy dress shop only had time to finish 3 riot shields. Also, it was meant to say “SAILOR.”
I had a lovely afternoon getting into the spirit of things and returned to the hotel humming, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and “Rudolf the Red Shirt Reindeer.”
When I arrived back however, my Christmas mood was slightly shaken as I received this letter under my door:
“Dear guest. With regards to the Red Shirt’s happening in the nearby area… the situation remains paramount in our minds… please avoid going near the gathering points for your own safety… please rest assured of our intention neither to downplay nor to overstate the matters in the situation and that we take safety of our guests and staff very seriously…”
Wow! What a coincidence that there were two parades on the same afternoon, in the very same area! I’m just so relieved I didn’t come across this other “Red Shirt” gathering… (http://tinyurl.com/282tyvk) My safety might have been breached! I guess you could call it a Christmas miracle. I don’t feel comfortable getting involved in matters of international politics. Never have. Oh no, I’ll stay right out of them and just stick to the things that matter to me most: like, as of today, the plight of the elves…
Merry Christmas everyone. x
The Frost Retort 