The Gion nightclub, named after the historic geisha district in Kyoto, usually teems with Japanese tourists intent on experiencing Bangkok's pleasures of the flesh. Just across the street is a rather more decorous building, the private residence of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. The proximity of the Thai leader's home to a glorified brothel — not to mention the attendant street vendors selling grilled fish, iced coffee and chili-spiked papaya salad to Gion's working ladies — exemplifies the easy contrasts of this city of 10 million people. Bangkok, wrote author Alec Waugh in 1970, "has been so loved because it is the expression of the Thais themselves, of their lightheartedness, their love of beauty, their reverence for tradition, their sense of freedom, their extravagance."
But now with Bangkok reeling from Thailand's worst political bloodletting in decades, Gion is shuttered, a golden gate drawn across the parking lot so often filled with BMWs and Mercedes. On May 19, army troops cleared out the so-called Red Shirt protesters from the rally site they had occupied for two months. At least 15 people were killed during the operation, bringing the civilian and soldier death toll up to nearly 80 since hostilities mounted six weeks ago. Now, a curfew in the capital and 23 other Thai provinces keeps would-be revelers from venturing out at night. The Prime Minister's residence is obscured by coils of razor wire, and swarms of policemen keep watch nearby.
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