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Food vendors have been a constant presence in Bangkok – but thousands of them are now being chased off the streets thanks to a move by Thailand’s military government to ‘clean up’ the country.





Bangkok is known as much for its smell as its sights.

For decades the noisy bustle of street vendors selling papaya salad, braised duck, grilled chicken, fish, noodles and other local delicacies, has been a constant presence across the city.

Many sidewalks are densely crowded with stalls selling food and drink, clothes and jewelry, toys and lottery tickets – an energetic constant the city has become known for.

But soon this could become the Bangkok of years past.

In a bid to “clean up” the city, the authorities have already cleared away thousands of vendors. At the same time a major riverfront development will see whole communities evicted.

In one small community on the Chao Phraya River, local families are preparing for the day they’ll be moved away, to be replaced by a concrete promenade. “It’s like they want to wipe out the poor,” one woman tells Dateline reporter Amos Roberts.