See, when Bangkok decided to make a bid for the Asian Games, it was several years ago, at the height of the "Tiger Economy" boom, when they thought that the games would be an excellent way to showcase their extraordinary success, when they knew that the extreme wealth in their region would translate into huge attendance and massive income from visitors. Needless to say, this didn't turn out to be the case.

In fact, the 1998, Bangkok Asian Games, despite their gorgeous brand-new stadiums, massive ad campaigns, round-the-clock tv coverage, were massively underattended. In fact, at the gymnastics event that I attended, the stands were barely more than half-full, hardly what I expected for an event with olympic-class atheletes. Despite the generally poor attendance, I was still amazed by the sheer skill of the competitors. Once the teams from Japan and China got their turns, the event became truly astounding. And sitting all day in an air-conditioned arena didn't hurt my mood either ;)

One of China's stellar gymnasts moving waaaaay too fast on balance beam