Not in the Lonely Planet...

The best way to make sense of Bangkok for me is to see it as the 'upside-down day' episode of Spongebob. You can't lock your hosteldoor from the outside, no, only from the inside. They don't just pour sugar over their strawberries, no, it's a yukky mixture containting salt. When they say something is closed, it's actually opened (but he just wants you to take a tuktuk to the Tourist Information office). Smiling and looking down means 'No' and sometimes 'Yes' also means 'No'.
So when people kept telling me to get out of the city, so stay away from the red shirts, do not go anywhere NEAR the demonstrations, guess what I did?
(this is the moment that I usually start guessing, even though I'm asked a rethorical question)
Yup. I went there and took a good look all these protesters. I sat down next to another guy eligible for white-people-tax with the words: 'can I sit here? Safety in numbers and all?'. But he didn't get my joke (us two versus 800.000+ people; nu.nl says 80., but that's a bit on the low side, and they're expecting more to come this evening)
It reminded me of Queensday, but everyone is wearing red instead of orange. It is confusing though, everyone seems to have another reason for wearing their red shirts (fashion not being one of them) and to shake their heart-shaped rattles. There weren't many tourists there, even though Ko Sam Road is right around the corner. The few pale-faced, shortswearing, shy looking people that were there, greeted me with a look of recognition. It was actually quite nice, because, well, Bangkok is not really my city. It's too big and the tuktuk drivers, shopkeepers, padthaicookers and taxichauffeurs just won't leave me alone. But here everyone does, or they just look at me curiously, smile and wave. They just want to talk about the cause and not take your money.
As I am (was) writing this, a man wearing a 'red in the land' shirt and matching bandana plants a flag behind me. Promptly a mother places her two children next to me and takes our picture.
God I wonder what that flag sais. I am being photographed a lot today. Let's just call it even for all the intrusive pictures I took today.