So here I am in Bangkok. We arrived on Monday morning just as the protests were starting. Monarchists, the city elite and middle classes are attempting to bring Bangkok to a standstill to prevent the elections in February from taking place. The current government has the support of the north of the country but the protesters want to bring in an unelected council on a temporary basis. Or they just love the King - I'm not really sure about the rest of it but they definitely love the King. (I have been using Ulla's phone to take pictures which she was very kind to lend to me)

People were still arriving in their droves when we walked into central Bangkok and there are now makeshift camps set up at major intersections across the city (the sky trains and overpasses make a good shelter from the heat).

There is a definite 'Henman hill' vibe to some of the protesters, and a lot of the major protest sites are conveniently close to the big shopping centre and restaurant complexes, so a day of protesting can be fitted around the more congenial pursuits involved in a day in the capital. 

Stages have been set up at the protest sites, with huge crowds attending to hear the speeches.

But its not all speeches, I walked through the middle of what felt like a very busy music festival yesterday, with the rock band that had taken to the stage bringing high spirits to the crowds, whose stamina does not appear to be wavering (although its only been a couple of days so far)

There was even a mime artist entertaining one of the smaller crowds.

There is little doubt in the resolve of the protesters when you hear their whistles and cheers in response to the leaders exhorting them from the stage. Whistles are a feature of this protest, as they see themselves as 'blowing the whistle' on the corruption exhibited by the Shinawatra dynasty in their continued domination of Thai politics.

But there is something foreboding about these shrill cries, when you remember that these crowds are calling en masse for the suspension of democracy. The fact that they are primarily composed of the country's more affluent citizens make this feel more like the run-up to a reactionary military coup than a popular revolution. 

On the outskirts of the protest areas the roads have been blocked off. Cars and bikes are abandoned in orderly lines where protesters have exited to reach the protest-site on foot.

Electronic billboards tell traffic which roads have been blocked.

Outside this area there is quiet and calm, a reminder that this is a very localized protest, and that outside the city and the tens of thousands calling for the government to be deposed, the millions that elected it have yet to be heard in what has so far been a very one-sided display of discontent.