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APEC In, Stuart Out

Posted by Stuart at 05:12 PM on October 10, 2003

MY VACATION HAS STARTED!

And what a relief it is.

It's a good thing I am getting out of town this week, I think. George Bush and other big guns are coming to Bangkok for APEC. It has been very interesting to watch Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin prepare his country for the meeting. He has done everything he can in the past month to "clean up" Bangkok for the foreign visitors.

First, elepahants were banned from the streets. Then street vendors around important areas were told to move their carts. Next came a sweep of the thousands of stray dogs and homeless people. (And yes, this happened at the same time. Homeless activists from San Francisco would be outraged at the coincidence, I'm sure.) The Thai homeless people were sent with the dogs to a temple outside of Bangkok for "education" while the Cambodians (a large percentage of the homeless population) were airlifted back to the middle of Cambodia.

As I went to work every day the past few weeks I noticed street cleaners for the first time. I also saw a lot of work planting grass and trees in the medians of the big streets. These improvements are definitely good to see. I hope they will continue after APEC is over (but somehow I doubt it).

PM Thaksin has also asked the Thai people not to protest the meeting, or else face punishment (not a terribly democratic idea, is it?). The latest news is that many Thai NGOs are still planning to protest Bush and other "globalization" plans of the APEC summit.

In any case, all of this will be behind me starting tomorrow AM when Piyawat and I will get in his car and head south. First stop, Chumphon province, approximately 500 KM from Bangkok. After resting there, we will continue south and explore the area for the next two weeks. I will do my best to post daily updates from what I am sure will be a great adventure. Wish us luck!