{"id":3506,"date":"2012-04-24T22:51:18","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T02:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?p=3506"},"modified":"2019-12-29T12:05:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-29T17:05:23","slug":"tourism-and-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/2012\/04\/tourism-and-terrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourism and Terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAren\u2019t you afraid of the bombs?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cycling through Thailand\u2019s deep south, this troubling enquiry was tossed out multiple times each day.<\/p>\n

Sure we were scared!<\/p>\n

Who wouldn\u2019t be if they had bothered to read this warning from the US State Department<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The far south of Thailand has been experiencing almost daily incidents of criminally and politically motivated violence for several years, including incidents attributed to armed local separatist groups. Although the separatist groups have focused primarily on Thai government interests in the southern provinces, some of the recent violence has targeted public and commercial areas, including areas where foreigners may congregate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or this very<\/em> recent article found on the Internet<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Suspected Muslim insurgents staged the most deadly coordinated attacks in years in Thailand\u2019s restive south, killing 14 people and injuring 340 with car bombs that targeted Saturday shoppers and a high-rise hotel frequented by foreign tourists.<\/p>\n

A first batch of explosives planted inside a parked pickup truck ripped through an area of restaurants and shops in a busy area of Yala city, a main commercial hub of Thailand\u2019s restive southern provinces, said district police chief Col. Kritsada Kaewchandee.<\/p>\n

About 20 minutes later, just as onlookers gathered at the blast site, a second car bomb exploded, causing the majority of casualties. Eleven people were killed and 110 wounded by the blasts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Life goes on as normal in spite of the violence throughout the region.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I have to admit this backroad “short-cut” did make me a little nervous.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Travel Warnings: to heed or not to heed<\/h3>\n

Alright, so we were well aware of the risks. \u00a0This Southern Thailand insurgency may not make many headlines in the rest of the world, but it\u2019s big news in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

Just because I\u2019ve visited 16 of the 32 countries topping the US State Department\u2019s list of absolute no-go countries<\/a>, doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m not a worrier.<\/p>\n

I am.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019d say I\u2019m a bigger fretter than most.<\/p>\n

Dogs barking in the distance will have me flying out of the tent in search of campsite invaders.\u00a0 If we\u2019re at a hotel for the night and slip out for dinner my mind\u2019s churning away with thoughts of doors left unlocked and thieves whisking away our precious bikes.\u00a0 And if it\u2019s a lonely stretch of road we\u2019re pedaling, you can bet I\u2019m eyeing each approaching vehicle with suspicion.\u00a0 Are there terrorists lurking inside?\u00a0 Kidnappers keen on nabbing cyclists?\u00a0 Highway Bandits ready to plunder our panniers?<\/p>\n

I just can’t help it! \u00a0Or can I?<\/h3>\n

All ridiculous thoughts.\u00a0 I know that.\u00a0 But sometimes there\u2019s just nothing I can do to stop their flow.<\/p>\n

What I can do, however, is consciously decide to override their influence.<\/p>\n

Ignore the emotions and weigh up the risks with the logical half of my mind.<\/p>\n

And logic told me that the chance of getting caught up in the southern Thailand insurgency was very, very low.<\/p>\n

As this New York Times article<\/a> points out \u201c\u2026we overestimate the odds of dreadful but infrequent events and underestimate how risky ordinary events are.\u201d<\/p>\n

A mad dash to Malaysia<\/h3>\n

That\u2019s the mantra I repeated as we biked past the bombed out buildings in Narathiwat.<\/p>\n

we overestimate the odds of dreadful but infrequent events<\/strong><\/p>\n

we overestimate the odds of dreadful but infrequent events<\/strong><\/p>\n

we overestimate the odds of dreadful but infrequent events<\/strong><\/p>\n

We did, however, take heed when a local guy in Narathiwat suggested we bike like crazy to cross the border into Malaysia that very day.<\/p>\n

I gave it my all but there was just no way my weary legs could conquer those final 30 kilometers to the frontier before sunset.<\/p>\n

Enter the friendly Thai police.\u00a0 And there are plenty of them in that part of the country.\u00a0 Throwing up checkpoints and attempting to keep order.\u00a0 They are there to serve.\u00a0 And serve they did.<\/p>\n

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Approaching one of the many police checkpoints in Southern Thailand near Pattani<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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There to serve! Propaganda in Thailand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No, we couldn\u2019t camp at their compound (although we had spent the previous night behind barbed wire at another military compound) but they would lead us to a safe place to sleep.\u00a0 And FREE, they insisted.<\/p>\n

We ended up at an abandoned seaside resort.\u00a0 Abandoned, of course, because terrorism and tourism just don\u2019t mix.<\/p>\n

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Not sure that I really felt safer with the police since government buildings are a primary target for the terrorists<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Sunrise at the deserted beach at our abandoned resort hotel in southern Thaialnd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alright, the resort was mostly<\/em> abandoned.\u00a0 A guard sized us up at the gate and a friendly caretaker showed us to the one and only room that was ready to receive guests.<\/p>\n

The following day we rolled across the border into Malaysia and let out a collective sigh of relief.\u00a0 \u00a0No terrorists on this side of the border!<\/p>\n

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Safe and sound across the border in Malaysia!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n