The Old Days on Khao San Road
Where you on KSR when 'Hotel California' was
still cool and Leonardo de Carpio still waiting to happen?
If so, let us have your stories. Is it true there was tumble
weed blowing down the middle of the street and a single
bar called the "Titty Twister"? Is it true that there were
so many Aussies on the strip that it was an Australian dependency?
Is it true there were overland buses running direct from
KSR to Kabul? Please explode (or otherwise) the myths and
legends that have arisen about this noble strip of earth.
If you have got some pictures, don't forget to send them,
too! For the author of the best article we receive we will
organize a couple of nights' accommodation at your favorite
guesthouse on KSR - that's of course if it is still standing!
Use the email form below...
Responses:
Elise
Kennedy writes: Flashback to 1991! Four 18 year old
blonde aussie chicks the beginning of a six month thailand
sojourn Ah I can't to this day not smile about the memories.
A thai jeweller/artist we named no name because we could
never remember it. His tiny flat on a rooftop around the
corner, his amazing drawings which two of us still wear
on our bodies today thanks to a friend of his who was a
tattooist on khao san. Doing 'stuff you shouldn't do' on
the rooftop overlooking the city that never sleeps. Rooms
that you fell into the bed as that was all that fitted in
there but for 50B a night mai pen rai (no problem} Those
were the days my friend! In the four visits since then a
small piece of me has cried for what once was and for how
now is extinct!
Richard - England
writes : My first experience of Khao San Rd was in April
1988. After 17hrs on a flight from London, via Europe and
the Middle East, I arrived in Bangkok. Stepping from the
air conditioned terminal was like suddenly being smothered
in a hot wet blanket. Metered taxi's at that time were a
thing of the future so I got on to a number 59 bus. Long
before the elevated expressways, toll roads and sky trains,
the traffic then as absolutely atrocious. Two and a half
hours later I staggered on to Khao San Road.
Soaked in sweat, my pack seemed to weigh twice as much
now as it did when I left home. I could feel my heart pounding
above the music that blared from a cassette stall as it
struggled to pump blood through my veins in the suffocating
heat. A girl so beautiful I thought my heart would give
out altogether shouted 'Hello you want loom?' Yes I did
want a room. 'Have good loom for you' she said. 'You come
holiday? How long you stay? Where you come from? Oh England
number one,' she said. A few days later I saw another red
faced Farang trailing behind her. 'Oh Sweden number onem,'
I heard her say.
The 'loom' as it turned out was more like a cupboard. By
the time I'd climbed the steep wooden staircases that lead
up to it I didn't have the energy to object… B60 a night
(about 1.50 quid at the time). No window, no bathroom, a
fan mounted on the wall shuddered from side to side pushing
the warm air around. The heat had flattened me. I just couldn't
imagine being able to do anything at all other than step
out to the shower then lie soaking wet under the fan just
to try and cool down. It was three days before I could walk
to the end of the street without stopping for a cold drink.
Khao San then was not quite the Khao San we see today with
its new hotels and guesthouses offering air-conditioned
comfort, satellite TV and mini-bars. These days young people
come to see, and be seen, at the smart new restaurants,
boutiques, bars, clubs and discos. It's a far cry from the
time when bemused looking Thai's would visit just to gawp
at the mad looking Farangs. It was a time before the street
was closed to traffic in the evenings, a time before glass
fronted shops, Internet cafe's and the sound of mobile phones.
With instant access to the world from there there's no longer
any need for the trek down river to the G.P.O to check Poste
Restante for precious letters from home.
Back in 1988 Hello Coffee Shop, which seems to have been
there forever, and in a slightly different guise, was one
of a few places open 24 hours a day if you wanted to watch
videos all night. Times change and things move on, as they
should. Like Khao San I'm older now, though not necessarily
wiser, and these days I stay across town. But I'd like to
think that there's still a young girl on Khao San Rd leading
foreigners to her guesthouse with the words 'Hello you want
loom'?
James
LeMay writes: "I took my first trip to Bangkok
13 years ago. I just jumped on a Japan Airlines flight from
Los Angeles to BKK without even knowing where I was going
to stay. 30 minutes before landing I asked some travelers
on the plane where I could find a cheap room. The reply,
Khao San Road. I never even heard of the place. Upon clearing
customs I jumped in a taxi and said, "Khao San Road" and
gave the driver the name of a guesthouse that the other
travelers had said they were going to stay at. I ended up
arriving before the guys who gave me the advice. They entered
the lobby just as I was getting my room key. The woman behind
the counter looked up at them and said, sorry sold out more
no room\". I ended up offering my room to the two travelers
but because it was a single bed, they declined. I wish I
knew the name of the guesthouse. When I return to HSR I'm
going to try to find it. Lots of great memories!"
Pierre
writes: "Hello, I wont start off by saying it was better
but it was - in every respect that is life ? why? prices,
the night life was so much more simple and not complicated
and right on Khao sarn, now everyone is in the surrounding
areas as far away as Soi Samsen 28 and such another thing
relations between Thai\'s and falang, you used to be able
to meet Buddy at Buddy beer, Mr Lou at PB gust house was
always fun to hang around with, Pang, the chines guy ??
selling jewelery on the street he has been there for ages...
The other thing was the kind things that happened there
you can not write about as it was so off far and NOT even
the slightest bit possible today. It would get your site
closed to talk about it.... ahhhhh memories... we left Ngam
Duphli in 84 or 85 to head here as this was the place to
be a local Bus 59 from Don Muang for 15 baht? the train
was 5 baht? seriously even until recently... what to say...It
was fanatastic nothing less and now different but never
will be the same, times change. We still come back occasionally
and freak out on the changes, ha ha Where is Mr Lou?"
Paul
Regan "I stayed there 17 years ago when it was
a few rough n ready crash pads, Thai cafes come restaurants,
couple of travel agents and cheap clothing [now I think
primark is cheaper]. I'm back in Bangkok next week for the
1st time since 1990, and apart from me being all grown up,
it now sounds like Magaluf or Benidorm down there, MC DS
, Boots, Starbucks, drunks, avoid me thinks HELP!!! I'm
off to Soi Cowboy for some culture and a quiet life! Oh
how we change!
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