In a Bangkok apartment, Tamils wait for a ship to Canada

August 30, 2010

The Globe and Mail

The four men, Sri Lankan Tamils, say they are in Thailand on vacation, though they rarely venture outside their one-room apartment on the outskirts of the Thai capital. They sit together on the bed, endlessly watching old movies in English and Thai that they barely understand.

They have a standard answer when asked why they have come to Thailand. “Tourists. Arrived last week. Leaving next week,” said a 25-year-old man named Baksubramaniam, who then claimed to speak no more English, though he seemed to understand the language well. In the same five-floor building on Bangkok’s northern outskirts – far from the city’s usual attractions – are two more rooms occupied by Tamils who call themselves tourists. One is a family of four, the other another group of men.

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