`Rose of Thailand' no longer so sweet

`Rose of Thailand' no longer so sweet

BANGKOK (AFP): The northern Thai provincial capital of Chiang
Mai, once dubbed the "Rose of Thailand," is wrestling with a
thorny question these days: where to dump its trash.

Chiang Mai administrators ran out of dumping sites two weeks
ago and have been unable to find any new ones, according to local
dailies and Thai television.

In the meantime, the garbage has piled up in the streets,
where foraging rats and dogs have torn open trash bags and
spilled the refuse.

Residents of the city, where the scent of jasmine and incense
usually waft from the many temples, say they cannot sleep because
of the stench.

Chiang Mai is one of the country's most prosperous and popular
tourist destinations, but has grown in a rapid, unwieldy rate in
the past decade.