500 000

… the estimated number of street-food stalls in Bangkok, according to the tourism website Bangkok 101.

The Thai capital’s street-food culture has long been beloved of locals and tourists. In fact, Bangkok was recently named by CNN as having the best street food on the planet — for a second year in a row. Government authorities, however, on a mission to clean up the city, have announced they’re banning the stalls and want all the vendors gone by the end of the year. The announcement this week caused an outcry from several quarters.

Government official Wanlop Suwandee insisted, though, that it would go ahead, “for order and hygiene reasons”.