The Bangkok red light district is set to be remodelled – in the style of the Cotswolds in England as the hookers are being kicked out of some areas.
Rattanakosin Island in the centre of the Thai capital, has been a prostitutes haunt for decades.
Street girls cater to local men there, leaving tourist hot-spots to flashy gogo dancers seeking wealthy foreigners.
But Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha has declared its days are numbered after being inspired by Cotswolds’ little Venice Bourton-on-the-Water, near Cheltenham.
The military leaders ‘dream’ is to see the 1700s area, with canals passing through it, transformed into an ‘important tourist attraction reminiscent of England’s Cotswolds’, reports the Bangkok Post.
Yellow star flowers are to be planted along the canals while old buildings will be painted a soft shade of yellow.
Defence Ministry permanent secretary Gen Nat Intarachareon added they are now planning to re-create the area in the ‘image of the Cotswolds’.
Starting in February, canals have been dredged and floating water cleaners installed.
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration worker Phaitoon Khamparat said the second part of the plan is to ‘re-adjust this area and landscape so it is not suitable for prostitution’.
‘By making the area clean with more electric lights, we can add CCTV to monitor the offenders.
‘Thirdly, new public activities should be introduced to the area to encourage tourism.’
It is unclear whether prostitutes, street food sellers and scrap metal workers, which have lived there for years, will be allowed to remain in the area in the future.
When Khlong Lat Phrao canal, in the north of Bangkok, was redeveloped houses built into it on stilts were demolished.
There are an estimated 1,682 canals in the city, that have leant it the name ‘Venice of the East’.
