In preparation for the arrival of Junichiro Koizumi, George Bush, Vladamir Putin and 18 other world leaders for the Oct. 20-21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok, Thai authorities have swooped down on the city. They have rounded up and shipped out hundreds of Cambodian beggars, thousands of stray dogs and tens of thousands of homeless people. The red lights of the Pat Pong and Soi Cowboy districts have been dimmed, and, if you believe some of the talk, brown patches in the parks alongside official motorcade routes have been painted green to look like grass.
Old Krung Thep has changed much over the last 10 years or so. Expressways and an elevated public transit system now whisk people around the city; air-conditioned Starbucks are filled with foreign tourists and affluent locals; and, somewhat ironically, people buy packaged cup noodles in 7-Elevens at several times the price the street stall women outside charge for much better nosh. This is the Bangkok that authorities want the APEC delegates to see.
Thai artist Manit Sriwanichpoom, 42, is not impressed with what he terms a "concept of consumerism, which has been accepted simply and without consideration by Thai society."