So. Things carry on here; protests have been on hiatus all weekend because it was the King’s birthday on Thursday and nobody thought that anything could be done on only Friday. But Suthep (background info here) says that something will happen tomorrow, so maybe something definitive will happen? More likely: it won’t.

In the interim, I went up to Phra Arthit to pay a visit to the coffee-maker previously known as Starbung. Born Damrong Maslee, his nickname is “Bung”, which means “brother” in Malay; when he started a coffee cart, he naturally enough called himself “Starbung”. Starbucks took offense at this and demanded 300,000 baht in damages (plus 30,000 baht a month for legal fees); Mr. Bung has been fighting them as best he can, though he’d have to sell 500 cups of coffee per day just to keep up with their stated legal fees. So he gave in; the coffee cart is currently named Bung’s Tears.

They are not selling t-shirts, which seems like a missed opportunity. His coffee is delicious, certainly more than that of Starbucks, who should be ashamed of themselves. You’ll also note that his coffee is halal.

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I left my telephone in a taxi this afternoon, which means that you won’t get to see poor-quality videos of the fireworks for the King’s birthday. What was most notable about these was that really powerful fireworks appeared to have been launched from the 7/11 across the street, which presumably means that I could be acquiring and launching such fireworks. Also I need a new phone.