BANGKOK - DAY 10

We get the daily paper with our room...The Nation, and saw a listing for a talk at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) with the topic - View from the Trenches: The Dramatic End to the Red Shirts' Rally - Cameramen and journalists discuss their first-hand experiences.
We knew we wanted to go for this, but it was impossible to take Meg along...so we had to decide who would go...no prizes for guessing who did...
Besides the talk, there was an exhibition titled "Through the lens: Bangkok's political unrest" which I didn't get to see. Both Meg and I went along to the FCCT with MJ in the hope that I'd get to see the photo exhibition at least, then leave with Meg while MJ stayed on for the talk. But the exhibition was inside the room and one had to pay 300B for entry for non-members so I asked MJ to take photos of the photos so I could have a look.
There weren't many and the prints were quite small, about A4 size.
Photographers whose works were on exhibit included - Agnes Dherbeys, Athit Perawongmetha, Masaru Goto (who was also on the panel), Nick Nostitz, Olivier Sarbil, Patrick de Noirmont, Roger Arnold and Siripong Kanjanabut.

This one's a sure winner at next year's World Press Photo competition...Key red shirt leader and rogue army officer Maj-Gen Khattiya Sawasdipol moments after he was shot in the head by a sniper's bullet on 13 May 2010. Very few photographers were near him when he was shot and not many got this pix, only two that I know of.
Tribute was paid to two journalists who lost their lives during the clashes, Japanese cameraman Hiro Muramoto from Reuters, who was shot and killed during armed conflict between the government and protesters on April 10 and freelance Italian photojournalist Fabio Polenghi, 45, was shot in the stomach and died on May 19, 2010.
(L-R): Todd Ruiz and Olivier Sarbil, the two journalists (Sarbil was the photojournalist) were the only two people who gained access to the "Men in Black" the real people to be afraid of...more below.
ST's very own Nirmal Ghosh was introduced as "the esteemed Nirmal Ghosh from The Straits Times", which shows that he is well respected amongst the foreign journalists in Thailand. He was asked for his views on "What's next for Thailand?".
Nirmal only appeared briefly and then disappeared. Perhaps he had a deadline to meet for the paper?
Unedited footage with ambient sound and all was shown and apparently affected quite a few people in the room. I've asked MJ to write something about the evening for this blog.
Here's his account:

The session at FCCT (The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand) was highlighted in the local English paper, The Nation, on the eve of our departure from Bangkok. Titled: "View from the Trenches: The Dramatic End to the Red Shirts' Rally - Cameramen and journalists discuss their first-hand experiences." It would be a rare opportunity to hear what they say and witnessed.

The plan was for me and Steph to go there and take turns to view a concurrent photo exhibition while one of us stayed outside with Meg since we knew the pictures would definitely not be kid-friendly. When we reached there, FCCT was packed to the brim with lots of journalists, freelancers and some members of the public. As the photo exhibition was held in the room where the talk was to be held, and non-members have to pay to enter, Steph "sacrificed" and volunteered to bring meg to Siam Paragon while i attended the session.

As a non-member, I paid 300 baht to attend. The room was alive with chatter, laughter and bonding among journalists, both broadcast and print. I recognised a few faces (although they don't know me) from twitters and internet coverage of the crisis which I'd been following quite closely throughout. It felt surreal to be in the same room with these people who went through the dangerous times together.

We, in the packed room, were reminded by the coordinator that the purpose of this session is to come together to share and discuss what each other had witnessed and experienced and to keep our emotions in check during Q and A. Footage and still photographs were shown on a few screens around us. BBC kicked it off by showing some footage. But it was the footage of two other video journalists on the panel which made our hearts stop and as I briefly scanned the faces of the audience, it was intense and some tried to hide their emotions. One video journalist commented that as there were so many views, opinions coming from different sources, he felt he didn't know what was true anymore. Thus he presented his footage raw, unedited, and in chronological order. The only request he made was to have the volume of the ambient sound turned up since there was no voice over. In his footage, the loud booming sound of home-made bombs going off, the shrill screams of one Thai when someone related to him died, the chaotic run for cover with the video recording still on, the sound of bullets piercing through the air permeated the entire room. But it was the footage of Italian photojournalist Fabio Polenghi being shot and pulled away by fellow journalists at the scene that was most unbearable to watch. The chaotic scene of Fabio being dragged off the street by journalists in midst of fire, at one time someone lost a grip of him and his head, helmet on, hit hard onto the ground, made us cringe even more. Incredibly he was put in a sitting position on a motorbike leaning against the rider and supported by another guy behind him. All 3 of them on a small motorbike, rushed to the hospital. It was reported Fabio died in hospital. We were watching someone from our occupation die as he was doing his job. I stole a glance at the panel which also comprised Japanese photographer Masaru Goto who was at the scene as well. There were no words to describe their expression.

Coverage of the crisis by these journalists had apparently taken its toll because when a question was posed to another video journalist on how he felt, he said something briefly before stopping, apologised and leaned back, emotionally drained, unable to go on.

Among the panel members were two freelancers, journalist Kenneth Todd Ruiz and Olivier Sarbil, a photojournalist. It was believed that they were the only ones who were in the tent with the infamous para-militaries, dubbed ''men in black'' by the media, as they prepared for war. The group allowed them inside their secret world with one condition: if they took any pictures, they would be killed.

Still pictures by Masaru Goto were awesome. Incredibly close, incredibly brave, incredibly dangerous. He explained the picture of Major General Khattiya Sawasdipol, also known as 'Seh Daeng' after he was shot by a sniper at Lumpini Park. He said when it happened, he thought Seh Daeng had just fainted, since no gun shots were heard at all. Then on auto mode, he pressed his camera shutter. Only a few seconds later, people, including himself realised what had really happened. On another picture of a volunteer fire fighter who was shot in the head as he was trying to help a demonstrator, Masaru commented although they were all a few centimeters away from him, no one could help as guns were going off in their direction, preventing anyone from doing anything. Although he did not mention this, I later discovered that Masaru was photographed by an AP photographer helping an injured protestor. In a brief apperance on a video shot by another video journalist, I believe I saw Masaru helping to carry Fabio, took some shots before helping again. It was a telling moment to all that photojournalists, even in times of danger, will help someone in need first before photographing.

As we moved to the Q and A, it was clear there would be no clear answers even in the room filled with journalists.

Questions such as these were fired all around:

a) Who were the black shirts? Were they really different from the red shirts?

b) Were the red shirts not armed at all?

c) How many "Men in black" were there?

d) Were the media biased?

e) Who saw armed black shirts with their own eyes?

f) Who saw armed red shirts with their own eyes?

d) What is next for Thailand?

There were different accounts of who the red and black shirts are, whether they were armed or not, as different journalists were at different places. It even prompted someone to ask, what difference does that make anymore?

The session ended with more questions than answers for me. Of cos, I didn't expect answers at all in the first place as there are so many layers beneath this crisis. It's more important for Thailand to have the answers and recover fast as it is a country with a rich culture and friendly people. I proceeded to look at the photos shot during the crisis on the wall in the room. At the entrance , there were two pictures. One of Japanese video journalist, the other Italian photojournalist Fabio, both whom died during their coverage of the crisis. As I took a picture, someone behind me, apparently having a conversation with another, said Fabio was cremeted in a Bangkok temple. "Oh when was that?". "MAy 24th" came the answer, the date of my birthday.

I walked out with a slight chill in my bones. Maybe it was the airconditioning, I told myself. The walk to the BTS was eeriely quiet. On the platform i came across familar faces who were also at the talk. None spoke even though they were in a group. The journey back to the hotel in the train was unusually quiet too. I expected to see the familar MTV they keep playing on the trains, a 'national song' recorded by Thai artistes of the recovery from the crisis but it was not played. In my mind the images and sound of the crisis shown on video earlier kept playing in my mind, the shrill scream of the protestor, the pool of blood left by Italian photojournalist Fabio. In a way, I am glad that wifey did not attend the talk at FCCT.

In the meantime, yours truly was engaged in a rather trivial (when compared to the FCCT talk) activity of having a last treat of local durians. I'd only had it once at the start of the trip, and it was fitting that I should end the trip with it too. I bought two different kinds this time. The Kanyao (which I've never heard of) and the Monthong. The Kanyao is smaller in size and more expensive, but the woman at the supermarket told me that the Kanyao is "Thailand no. 1 durian" and the Monthong is no. 2. How not to try it after she said that?
Four seeds of Kanyao cost 200B and the seeds are bigger than the Monthong with less meat.
They also have a deeper yellow colour and generally tastes sweeter than the Monthong.
Having now tried both, I think I still prefer the Monthong. It's creamier, has more meat and is generally more satisfying to my taste bud. Now I'm longing for another one....