“Streetview Protest”

This man came up to me and pushed a newspaper in my face, which is unusually demonstrative behavior in Thailand so I took this quick photograph and edged away. Only on getting home and looking at the picture did I notice the “EVIL POLICE” written along the top and then tried to translate the headline. After struggling to think what “sadree daweow” could mean, it suddenly dawned on me.

The headline says, “Streetview Thailand”, which had just launched in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket, (earlier than expected thanks to a special request from the Thai Government keen to show flood-free streets). And this man seems believe it to be a mechanism for the police to spy on us.

I feel sorry that I didn’t take the time to understand his protest when he came up to me as I might have been able to put him at ease or at least shift his anger towards Google. I went back the next day but couldn’t find him.

However, I’m glad I didn’t get his face in the photo or I could be accused of being an evil police spy.

Photograph taken at Chiang Mai Gate market, Chiang Mai, Thailand