Further to my earlier post on “visitors” in Thailand, I came across a recent and interesting piece on Arab tourism to Bangkok.
According to this report, Bumrungrad International Hospital now has 25 interpreters for Arabic-speaking patients. In a similar vein, Siam Paragon – the grand shopping plaza in central Bangkok – claims that 30 percent of its foreign customers are from the Middle East.
Little in this piece surprises me. I suppose it is just another marker of the world in 2006, and some of its unlikely movements and transformations.