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The Three Faces of the Khao San Road
From The Reading Eagle/Times: October 2006
Many streets in the world have a famous face but there are few that have three completely different faces.
The Khao San Road in Bangkok, Thailand is a backpackers Mecca, everyone goes there - it's like a homing instinct, some sort of backpacker's law. The entire western world is represented - Australasia, Canada, Europe and the USA.
During the day it's a bustling place heaving with people, bicycles, tuk-tuks and the occasional taxi. It's packed with guesthouses, bars, restaurants, Internet cafes, travel shops, moneychangers, bootleg shops, clothes stalls and massage parlours (no, really, they're just massage parlours). The hair-braiding stall always does good business although not as good as the fake ID store. Music is everywhere and large video screens play Hong Kong and Hollywood movies non-stop. No one sits quietly reading the newspaper nearly everyone is engaged in frenetic conversations.
Groups of lads are shrieking to each other about how drunk or wasted they got last night. Pairs of guys engage in intense and meaningful discussions with pairs of girls. Groups of young Thai lads talk furtively, looking around in amazement or perhaps planning the latest Bangkok scam. But the biggest topic of conversation is travelling - great places to go, disastrous experiences and where to get the best deals.
Scams to relieve foolish westerners, with more money than sense, are an integral part of Bangkok life. You can't really claim to have been to Bangkok if you haven't at least been on the tail end of a scam. Discount gems, dead cert gambling opportunities and beautiful girls who apparently love old, fat, bald westerners are all standard scams. The golden rule, as always is - if it seems too good to be true - it surely is.
The one thing you never say to a stranger you've just meet is "I've just arrived" - that's like a flashing light saying - mug alert - excess money here.
Around midnight there is a major shift change........