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On my way to the camera/electronic stores in Bangkok, we got stuck in a massive traffic jam as the pro democracy red shirts started doing their thing, peacefully I might. I couldn't get the bus to stop as I would have loved to have stood in the middle of things and got some images. These were shot through a dirty window as best I could (except the first which was taken later in the day):

At last I've seen some red shirts! (Apart from on the Bangkok Post website anyway...) Whereabouts were these guys? I'm leaving in 24 hours, so might get to see them as well.

Any tips on camera shops? I've heard of Fotofile, but don't know of any others.

Cheers

They were all over the city yesterday, but they're harmless. The only thing you might have to watch out for is a confrontation with riot police etc and getting caught in crossfire, but yesterday was very peaceful. Actually, there seemed to be a bit of a carnival atmosphere. These people are mainly from the northern country areas. Bangkok residents get annoyed because of the traffic chaos that happens, but it seems things may peter out this week. I'm heading north this afternoon (by road) and so we may experience traffic congestion but we'll see how things go.

As for camera stores, there are many of them but their prices seem no different to Oz, so I have passed on any purchases. Grey market is the order of the day with major equipment brands (Canon, Nikon etc) but accessories, memory cards, batteries, mobile phones etc are mostly Chinese knock offs which I would avoid.

If you're in town next weekend there are markets (reportedly the world's largest) in Bangkok. To say they are amazing is an understatement; you can buy anything, especially endangered animal species! But beware, they are so big it is easy to get lost, so take a map. Easy access from the subway rail network, which is fantastic.

Enjoy your trip!

Ozi.

Thanks for the info! I'm looking forward to the markets - should be fun, although as you say, beware of any "bargains", even in shopping centres like Pantip Plaza.

The underground wasn't built last time I was there, (2000) so I'm looking forward to trying it out - should make life much easier. The ones in Singapore and Hong Kong are fantastic, just wish we had something like that here

Have fun up north!

Cheers