Transcript of the above video: 

So we are going to throw up some photos here; I'll use one in the thumbnail. This is just a quick sort of video. I was briefly, I was there maybe I don't know, not super long but I went and saw the latest protest, basically the protest, don't know how to put it, call it a rally in favour of Thai Sovereignty and that is what I sort of like about it; the sovereignty of Thailand, national sovereignty if you will. I enjoyed going there. I am going to do another video. I am making it a contemporaneously with this one because there are concerns. I have seen some comments on our channel regarding foreigners getting into the discussion of internal Thai politics and I will do a video specifically on that because there was a moment in there where I was wandering around and I had some interactions with Thai Immigration which I'll get to in the other video. 

That said, just some quick personal reflections on what I saw. And what I saw was a pretty unified group of peaceful people who are not really interested in outside undue influence on this country and that was basically the main thrust of everything I heard and everything I saw at that particular event. I went there with a friend, and we were kind of trying to decide if we thought that there were more or less people between this time and the last. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion, it seemed about on parody in terms of the amount of people attending. I was a little worried, having been through especially 2010, I am always kind of, the hairs on the back of my neck go up when there are subsequent events. You will have one event then another event, out of the fear that some kind of momentum feedback loop sort of arises and things can get out of control. In point of fact, this was a much more laid-back event in my opinion or at least of what I saw of it, than the one that I saw previously, that I went to previously. Now that could be because yesterday, as of the time of this video was hot; one of the hottest days in Thailand. In fact I am standing here right now sort of amidst condensation on my own skin because it's like the air conditioners are just barely keeping the temperature in a reasonable band, so I think heat had something to do with it. I went to this one later in the day. The last one I went to sort of more toward the middle of the afternoon. This one I was there in the evening so that might have accounted for some of it seeming a little more subdued. Folks, I think numbers wise; it was comparable though. It was just a lot more people were sitting down. They were listening to the speakers rather than sort of up and kind of a little more lively. I guess it was more folks just kind of sitting back and listening to what the speakers had to say. 

So overall, I think it was, again it was peaceful, if you take nothing else away from this video, my main observation was this was not a set of circumstances where it was people getting up a hue and cry for any kind of non-peaceful action, so I think that is important to note. These are folks that are just concerned about their country really. I mean if you listen to the messages, there were some talking about the various actors involved in this whole political melodrama, but for the most part, the message was just, "hey we are Thailand and we are a Sovereign nation and we have our own way of doing things and we are going to keep doing that." 

So that was the message that I picked up, and I thought overall it was a positive experience. It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out. There was a lot of resolved concern about the actions of many both in official positions here in Thailand as well as I guess you could say "unofficial positions" - although that is not a real thing and that is kind of the issue - is I think everybody is sick and tired of this whole "well this person or that person isn't really this thing, but they have influence". Well we would really like to have somebody that is kind of accountable to us; that is going to be a kind of a theme there as well as outside actors who are again unduly influencing Thailand. So again, it was an interesting event. I am happy to get to be here and just sort of be a part of this ever-evolving situation. Again, if you take nothing else away from this video it was a peaceful event overall. So I think if anything, I think it actually augers well for the future. I think Thai people very much at the moment know what they want, know what they are about and just want to find a resolution and a clear path forward that is best for the nation. 

Just real quick here and sort of an addendum to that video, I again was at this peaceful protest. Protest isn't even quite the right word; it was a rally. I don't know that I would call it a protest exactly. I mean they noted that they had their concerns with the government, so I guess insofar as that goes, yeah. 

That said, very quickly, I am going to go ahead and do deep dives into this stuff and where I think this is all heading, how I think it could have an impact on expat land here in Thailand, the greater Southeast Asia. For those who are interested in that, you can check out our paid news service. If you want to get on the email list for the paid news service, it is [email protected]. You can send us an email, and we will go ahead and get you on the email list, tell you about the terms of doing the paid news service, get you on the email list and you can get the episodes with deep dives into all of this. Currently I have 11 episodes so far, and I will be doing one, I expect I'll probably be doing about an hour on talking about my observations deeply, and where I think that this stuff is heading, some of the topics and basically where I think things are moving, what direction they are going to be moving, and how it is going to impact expats here in Thailand. So for those who are interested in that, email us again, [email protected]. And then of course, as I have discussed in other videos and I know folks, there are some of you out there that get very sort of angry at me for bringing up the fact that my better half and I have started a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok, Pancake Palace, American Diner style food, breakfast anytime, link in the description below if you want to come see us at Pancake Palace and have a nice breakfast or have some diner style food. So that is basically all I have to say. I wanted to tag it on without interrupting this video.