One politician who most certainly has not boarded an escape plane on the eve of Bangkok's rouge revolution is Suwat Liptapanlop. (Yes, he's a banned politician, but you know you can't get every single drop of juice out of a lemon. He's just "unofficial".)
Suwat is busy in Hua Hin at the moment, but he's neither mustering protesters nor helping run the Intercontinental, which his family owns.
He's assuming his duties as president of the Contemporary Photography Foundation of Thailand. Suwat succeeded the late Surat Osathanukroh late last year.
First up, he's organised a photo competition linked to the Hua Hin Kite Boarding World Cup, which begins today and continues until March 20.
Plenty of foreign lensmen are in town for the first such sporting event of its kind in Thailand, so Suwat is tapping them to drum up some tourism for Hua Hin.
The competition is open to all, including professionals, and the first prize is worth Bt50,000. Even those amateur shutterbugs who wave around camera phones can enter.
When the kite boarders wrap things up on the 20th they'll announce the "Picture of the Match" and hand someone Bt30,000.
So why not join the hordes who've fled the Red and head south? Grab a decent picture on any day of the kite boarding and get it over to the hotel.
It's nice having Suwat leading the photo foundation, a man with ideas, connections and a nice place to hold the meetings. He's doing an excellent job killing time until next year, when they let him back into politics again (officially).
Jeed needs Bt50,000
Among the Contemporary Photography Foundation's honorary guests in Hua Hin is Sangthong "Jeed" Kate-uthong, who loves taking landscape and abstract photos.
But Jeed's got a problem: She needs a very-high-rise condominium with an unobstructed view of the area so she can get a terrific wide-angle shot.
Not even Suwat has been able to help her with that.
