Hellbent on turning city to Disneyland
Has anyone heard the news that Disneyland is coming to Bangkok? It isn’t. Not yet, anyway. But that isn’t stopping the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), which seems hell-bent on reinventing the city along thematic lines, including the planned segmentation of food and beverages in “themed” districts following its widely criticised crackdown on street food last month.
The world’s favourite theme park was launched in Shanghai last June to lure foreign and domestic tourists to the Chinese metropolis. And now Bangkok’s City Hall seems to be trying to do a similar job by transforming the Thai capital into a “theme park” of its very own.
For starters, a Disneyland-like public park is expected to take shape behind the huge white walls of the Mahakan Fort before the year is out. This is likely as the BMA seems unwilling to surrender its two-decade-long effort to evict the community living around the fort, which includes third-generation residents.
Worryingly, the BMA seems more than ready to erase historic relics and sacrifice local communities in its quest to reinvent the city along these lines. But it may be overly optimistic to think that by simply removing some trees and evicting a few dozen families, it will get a clean and orderly public park. More likely, it will destroy the community, which exists as a kind of living museum, and replace it with a few potted trees on concrete ground.
Within the next few months, we are also likely to see the groundbreaking ceremony for Bangkok’s riverside promenade project, dubbed a new national landmark. By evicting several hundred “occupying tenants”, the BMA hopes to pave the way for the 14-km riverside promenade on both sides of the Chao Phraya River.
But will the new promenade live up the BMA’s dream of becoming a public space for families to stroll, giggle or picnic at in the evening while cyclists enjoy a cool breeze at sunset? Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, the city will need to have sufficient food and beverages to match its Disney-like reinvention.
After banning street food from a number of inner-city areas in recent weeks — and depriving locals of affordable eateries — the BMA teamed up with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports this week to promote Bang Khunthian Chai Thalay as a new “food street”.
Only two tourist hot spots will be spared the street food ban — Yaowarat Road and Khao San Road.
And to ensure that Bang Khunthian maintains its own unique culinary signature, it will only be permitted to serve seafood.
To lure tourists, Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul suggested each street food area should have its own unique character. She described the BMA’s proposal that the food stalls on Yaowarat Road should adopt Chinese architectural designs as “too simple”.
The BMA also wants to create two more new food streets to lure tourists. One will be based around a floating market in Taling Chan district. The other will be on Thong Lor aimed at “high-end” customers.
Although details of both remain opaque, there’s no doubt in my mind that they will lure hordes of tourists every day.
Who knows? Maybe they will. People who take a train or drive to work back home may be persuaded to get a taste of local Thai life by pedalling a boat to eat some pad thai at the floating market in Taling Chan.
But will tourists with bigger budgets who like to dine at Michelin-starred restaurants at home be eager to eat som tam and laab in stylish containers while absorbing the pollution on Thong Lor?
Despite all this, I’m still embracing the news of how City Hall is improving the city for tourists. We locals will also reap the benefits.
It’s great to hear that City Hall has decided to improve food hygiene by cleaning up the food stalls, which will no longer be allowed to dump liquid waste directly into the gutter. Vendors will now be required to install an effluent pipe at their stalls. Official dish-washing spots will also be designated.
Although the regulations for street food have not yet been finalised, the BMA has said that all vendors will require training in good practices and food hygiene. Prices must also be clearly displayed so tourists are not duped.
All this talk of food is making me hungry. If the Bang Khunthian Chai Thalay food street were open, I’d go for some seafood. In lieu of that, Yaowarat will do fine.
Just let me grab my Mickey Mouse ears first.