A comment made in response to my post on Beijing construction site boards, praising the value of boards being used in some cultures to keep eyesores (junk, trash etc) away from the population, brought to mind a rather large cover-up operation in Thailand (that occurred during my pre-blogging days).
During the 2003 APEC forum a 360-metre long banner, brainchild of the then Bangkok Governor (now Prime Minister) Samak Sundaravej, was used to cover up a whole slum neighbourhood so that world leaders wouldn't have to view the 'mess'.
This type of short term, 'band aid' solution perfectly demonstrates that face (and not substance) is everything in Asia.
If only Samak had sold the prime media space to a multinational corporation he could have regenerated the whole area and had enough left for a few aprons, too.
Thanks to rascott.com for the image.
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