If Bangkok is a city where East greets West, then Khao San Road is the scene of their collision, the place where they jostle for superiority and poke one another in the eye. With travellers from every corner of the modern world, sleek clubs playing sophisticated sounds, eclectic market stalls, converted VW cocktail bars, and foods tamed to suit the Western palate, it may seem clear who won the fight. However, whether you're a hard-up farang (foreigner) or open-minded Thai, its irrepressible energy and carefree vibe makes it well worth a visit.
It's in fact over 20 years since this area first morphed into a ghetto for backpackers of all ages, colours, and creeds. However, while the crowds look much the same, the famous road does not: over the last five years or so the place has undergone a slow, subtle makeover. The tired-looking bars and dilapidated flophouses of yesteryear have disappeared or gone upmarket. Bars and restaurants are now trendy, style-conscious affairs, decked out with exciting menus and imaginative interiors. And, the neighborhood's accommodation has been tweaked toward the upper-budget market, with comfort, air-con and decorative flair the new buzzwords.
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The end result: a sleeker, shinier, more commercial Khao San Road, a place no longer the preserve purely of shoestring travellers, looking for a mattress in a box and surviving on a diet of banana pancakes and buckets of Red Bull and Thai whisky. Bourgeois backpackers, open-minded young families and hip-young Thais now complete the scene, all of whom come along to soak up the area's atmosphere, while in the process enriching it.
Don't be worried that the place has lost its soul though. Dig beneath the thin veneer of progress and you'll see the place has retained the raucous, gritty charm that made it famous: the sprawling neon signs that light up the street at night are still here, as are pushy tuk-tuk drivers, street vendors peddling everything from fried insects to croaking ornamental frogs, and drunken revellers, lost in the neon glare, staggering its length late into the night. And lets not forget the common and yet still compelling sight of bewildered new arrivals hunting frantically for a place to rest before sundown, or of strutting Thai beauties prowling the streets in search of a new 'tee-rak' (loved one).
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Most importantly of all, the air of youthful abandon which permeates the place 24/7 is still here, unashamedly and comfortingly intact despite the seemingly unstoppable influx of fast-food outlets (Starbucks, McDonalds and Burger King) and incongruous shopping malls. In fact, though most use it as a convenient spot to re-configure after a bout of island hopping, or as a base from which to launch an assault on the city's temples and markets, it's true to say that Khao San Road has become an attraction in itself, albeit one with a raw, uncouth, cosmopolitan feel that isn't textbook Thai.
Learn more about Khao San Road: Where to Stay, What to See & Do, Shopping, Where to Eat, Nightlife, Getting Around |
