I Heart Khao San Road

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Bangkok is getting to feel a lot like home. It's the base which I seem to return to before embarking on a new set of adventures, but it wasn't really until my fourth trip there in two months I decided to appreciate it for what it really is: an adventure in itself. Khao San Road I think epitimises the upside to the craziness that is Bangkok. I think I mentioned the road in my last blog about Bangkok, on which sits many bars, clubs, stalls, shops and other various things all aimed to get money out of backpacker's pockets. I also mentioned Mr Thailand, who I got a photo with last time I was here. But apart from a few drinks at one of the bars, I never really bothered to experience much of what Khao San Road is all about.

I'm in the mood for a dot point set out, so here it is, my list of the best things about Khao San Road:

* Mr Thailand. Bangkok's answer to Sydney's hug man. Or most probably it went the other way around.
* The random old man who jams along to Jimi Hendrix songs, then hands the guitar onto a random in the crowd while he goes on a smoke break.
* The random little alleyway that runs parallel, and I never would have found on my own. There's a restaurant there that has the most spectacularly bad service I've come across in Southeast Asia. That's saying something.
* Seven Eleven. It sells everything, and according to one person I met is the best bar around. There are even plastic chairs and tables outside, which you can sit at. Until midnight, when it becomes illegal and you have to sit a few steps to the left.
* Buckets. And random 'bars' set up on the side of the road which sell cocktails in them. Not that they actually describe what the cocktails are, the best technique is just to choose a random name and run with it... and hope it's not made out of gin.
* The fact that they sell fake IDs there, but if the NSW driving license example is anything to go by, people would literally laugh in your face if you tried it.
* You can so easily tell who's just arrived based purely on their haggling skills i.e. they accept the first price or something ridiculously close to it. That said, one bad thing about Khao San Road is that they rarely go too far below the starting price. Too much fresh meat to rip off, there's no need to sell at reasonable prices.
* 15 baht Pad Thai. With the tini dried shrimps you can sprinkle on top. Being vegetarian I don't obviously, but I'm so amazed by the amount of lives that can go into one meal.
* The coconut cream curry they sell at My House Guesthouse (not technically Khao San Road, but Rambutri Rd counts)
* Actually on that note: Rambutri Road. How cheap the accomodation is there compared to everywhere else. And the fact that there is a bar there made out of a Volkwagon Van.

Or to quote 'The Castle' "It's just the vibe of the thing".

P.S. There are two main reasons that I have written this particular entry in point form. The first is that I have spent way too much time on facebook today, and my mind has somehow converted to the format of most facebook group openings (be grateful I didn't just put the whole thing as 'you know you've been to Khao San Road when...'). The second is that there weren't really many actual events I could write about, seeing as I spent most of my time in Bangkok sleeping. I think I was sick. Or just really really tired.

P.P.S. It was this trip to Bangkok which was the end of my Intrepid tour. If any of 'Marty's gang' are reading this: thanks for an awesome month, it was great. Sorry for ditching you in Bangkok, but as I said, I was sleeping, I doubt I would have been the best company anyway.

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Photos

A view of Bangkok
It kind of makes you appreciate how beautiful cities can be. When they don't look like this.

Me with Mr Thailand
Yes, technically this photo wasn't taken this time around. But I get lazy with taking photos, and this is the only one I have of Khao San Road.