Kao San Road

[deejah]

is it that bad?

seem to me that not many people like ksr anymore.

any good words for ksr....anyone?

well the best thing about k rd IMHO is that the road is closed off to car traffic at night

i would like to hear more about places like that

been to 17 countires and never seen anything like KR but havent been to bali or indonesea yet

its kind of like new york, you love it or hate it or both!!!

no one seems indifferent to it, that makes it very special

i like it when the thais come to check out the farang

it is usually full of farang

however i perfer thais to farang

farang are more on the defensive and less open

i sense a big VIBE difference between a farang hangout and a thai hangout

every night is a party

and every night has its own mood

truely unique and surely not for everyones taste

[canadiangirl]

I enjoy KSR for about two hours, then I start wishing a helicopter would airlift me out of there

Good points:

* really good used bookstores, better than most back home and new bookstores from BKK malls

* great Thai food on Phra Athit (don't remember how to spell this -- does it mean "monk something?"): for example Hemlock ("upscale" Thai food in beautiful surroundings) and Roti Mataba (dirty dive with amazing muslim curries and roti -- some of the best I've had)

* sitting on mats after hours and drinking, if that's your thing

* all the weird bars -- last time I was there, there was one called "love you long time" bar, one of out the side of of VW van, and one in the parking lots of a gas station

* some young Thai designers sell their stuff along the usual "same same", fisherman pants, knockoff crap that lines the street -- some interesting finds there.

* a bunch of Thai indie music happens on Phra Athit, as well

* great people watching, if that's your thing. It's also fun to watch bootleg movies in those little bars, when you feel homesick

* not visibly full of hookers, unlike Suk/Silom

Bad points:

* stupid belligerent farangs who can't hold their alchohol and want to start WWIII over a spilled drink

* farangs behaving badly -- this place has NOTHING to do with Thailand, and some of the Thais on the street there can be pretty hard -- hard to blame them with the crap they have to deal with.

* It's hard on the heart to see a dark-skinned old Thai man picking up the garbage on the street at 2 am, tossed there by 20-year English tourists with no shirts on, partying with no care in the world

* the "I live in more sordid conditions than you" boasting from backpackers

* all the food ON KSR itself is basically overpriced crap and horrible.

It's one of those surreal places that seems "outside of time", outside of any kind of real life. You could leave for a year, come back, and it would be as if you were there yesterday. Surely it must have changed over the years, but you don't feel that when you're there.

I don't really think of KSR as Thailand, more like a cross between a farang land mall, las vegas and hunter s. thompson: you just enjoy it for what it is and then get the f* out of there!

Edited August 27, 2007 by canadiangirl

[Niloc]

KS Road is a great place to go just before you catch the plane home to Farangland. There you can buy all those little crappy things to give away to your mates in the pub and impress the girls in the office.

The Airport Bus also goes past KSR on its way to the airport, it used to anyway.....

[dantilley]

I enjoy KSR for about two hours, then I start wishing a helicopter would airlift me out of there

Good points:

* really good used bookstores, better than most back home and new bookstores from BKK malls

* great Thai food on Phra Athit (don't remember how to spell this -- does it mean "monk something?"): for example Hemlock ("upscale" Thai food in beautiful surroundings) and Roti Mataba (dirty dive with amazing muslim curries and roti -- some of the best I've had)

* sitting on mats after hours and drinking, if that's your thing

* all the weird bars -- last time I was there, there was one called "love you long time" bar, one of out the side of of VW van, and one in the parking lots of a gas station

* some young Thai designers sell their stuff along the usual "same same", fisherman pants, knockoff crap that lines the street -- some interesting finds there.

* a bunch of Thai indie music happens on Phra Athit, as well

* great people watching, if that's your thing. It's also fun to watch bootleg movies in those little bars, when you feel homesick

* not visibly full of hookers, unlike Suk/Silom

Bad points:

* stupid belligerent farangs who can't hold their alchohol and want to start WWIII over a spilled drink

* farangs behaving badly -- this place has NOTHING to do with Thailand, and some of the Thais on the street there can be pretty hard -- hard to blame them with the crap they have to deal with.

* It's hard on the heart to see a dark-skinned old Thai man picking up the garbage on the street at 2 am, tossed there by 20-year English tourists with no shirts on, partying with no care in the world

* the "I live in more sordid conditions than you" boasting from backpackers

* all the food ON KSR itself is basically overpriced crap and horrible.

It's one of those surreal places that seems "outside of time", outside of any kind of real life. You could leave for a year, come back, and it would be as if you were there yesterday. Surely it must have changed over the years, but you don't feel that when you're there.

I don't really think of KSR as Thailand, more like a cross between a farang land mall, las vegas and hunter s. thompson: you just enjoy it for what it is and then get the f* out of there!

Very good summary.

Actually, yes, I stand corrected on the food thing - in the surrounding area there are a few good places, but Khao San Road itself has generally crap Thai food (except the aforementioned Tom Yam Kung restaurant). But it makes me laugh to hear people people saying that the Phad Thai bought on the street at Khao San are amazing and the epitome of real Thai street food!