I admit, the original cover was fairly dated as a cover and I wasn't fond of it (except, as you say, as a gorgeous piece of art). But it got across the flavor of the world much more, and I feel like they could have made a cover which matches contemporary styles that still had some of that flavor. At least they didn't go the She's so Money route, where they put a Caucasian-looking model on the cover but had her eyes squinted in laughter because somebody thought that made her pass for Thai. (I admit I am drawing conclusions about intent which I really have no evidence that that's what people were thinking, but that's certainly how it looks from outside.)