Thailand has decided to move the venue of ASEAN's annual meeting from Bangkok to Chiang Mai seven weeks before the event. The official reason for the change is the pleasant climate in December and a desire to show delegates another part of Thailand. However, officials privately acknowledge that the decision is actually to avoid trouble with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the protest movement occupying the Prime Minister's compound in Bangkok. Some believe the last-minute venue change reflects concerns about losing face and appearing unstable, with speculation that the PAD may target the summit venue to embarrass the government. Government leaders from the 10 Association of South East Asian Nations countries, along with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, are attending the meeting in Bangkok. Diplomats based in Bangkok are unhappy about the sudden change in location, especially during the busy tourist season. It will be challenging for a city of 200,000 people to accommodate the influx of government officials and foreign media. When Laos hosted the meeting in Vientiane four years ago, they restricted entry to foreign visitors to make room for the summit. A diplomat in Bangkok described the situation as a major inconvenience. The budget for this has not been planned and it will be difficult to find hotel rooms at this time of year. We may have to share rooms and even sleep on the floor. The Shangri La hotel in Chiang Mai, where the meeting is taking place, has already reserved the entire hotel from Dec. 11-19. However, tourists with existing reservations will not be asked to leave. The original venue for the meeting, the Centara Grand hotel in Bangkok, seems to be unaware of the change in location.