Khao San Road

Khao San Road is the scam central of Bangkok!
By Jon_Mak_Mak (dabbler - 2 reviews)
Written on 23rd May, 2009 after a visit to Khao San Road in February, 2007
Having been to Khao San many times as a tourist, a backpacker and also as a resident of Bangkok on a couple of occasions I have a different view of the area to a lot of people who just pass trough or spend a couple of nights there.

For first-time tourists to Thailand or longer-term backpackers that don't know much about Bangkok or Thai culture it might seem like a great place, but anyone that has visited this area more than a handful of times will probably have a different opinion.

On my last trip to Thailand when I took my parents I even skipped Khao San Road altogether. It's nothing special, a quick stroll down might be OK just to see it, but after that I'd rather be somewhere else! If you travel halfway around the world to see a load of drunken westerners it might be an ideal area for you to hangout.

A backpacker ghetto it is, a place of good service it is not!

Honestly, the way that most of the Thai people working around here treat foreigners is disgusting. Equally, the way a lot of foreigners behave around here is also truly atrocious!! Some of the things I have seen in Khao San Road have -- at the time -- made me feel embarrassed to be a westerner. Some of the tourists/backpackers attitudes and total disregard for local culture is shocking. Maybe it's that they don't know about the Thai culture -- which is extremely different from ours -- or maybe they just don't care. It doesn't take too much effort to do a little research of the country before you go and it will make your experience much better if you do.

If it's not the touts constantly trying to scam you, or the market people trying to sell you things for a (usually) much more expensive price than many, many other places in Bangkok, it will be one of the other various scam that will get you!

Most of the hotels here are cheap but not very nice. I have stayed in some truly awful, low budget rooms here and it's worth paying a bit more and getting the best you can afford. I have stayed in a few hotels in Khao San over the years and also looked at many more or been in others with friends staying there but I'm not going to recommend any of them!

A lot of the food isn't that great around Khao San either, its usually made very quick and to 'westerners tastes' which is a shame because it's usually the first place many people taste Thai food in Thailand. But that's not to say that it's all bad. I can recommend The Lat Na in Buddy Beer Bar (was good in 2007 anyway) and I've had some good chicken and cashew nuts from the Sawasdee Banglampu Inn. You will see loads of people walking around eating pad thai but please, try some other Thai food as there are so many really nice dishes. I can recommend Pad Gra Pao Moo (thai basil with pork), gaeng keow wan wai or gaeng pet gai (green or red curry with chicken), lat na (thick noodle in gravy) or tom yam talay (the famous hot & sour soup but with mixed seafood instead of the usual prawns).

At the western end of Khao San Road (opposite end to Burger King) is a much quieter area around Soi Rambutti, This is where I might go for a drink if I'm in Bangkok and find myself in this neck of the woods. There's a good little restaurant near the police station end of the soi (about halfway down) called something like Thai Garden, it's a basic set up with some picnic-bench style seats. The food in here has been good before and the service is (usually) a bit better than a lot of places.

I can understand why a lot of backpackers like this area, I think it's because of the cheap accommodation and food and they probably feel safe in their numbers but as I said before, the service around Khao San Road is usually really bad and I can understand why, I just don't like to experience that service myself. If you go there first don't let it put you off Thailand because the country (and people) really aren't like this. This is a major tourist trap and travellers should be wary of everyone from tuk-tuk's and taxi drivers to Thai girls and other travellers they meet.

TIP:
Never get a tour bus from Khao San Road such as the bus to Cambodia. I've had first hand experience of the scams/cons and I know other people that have had the same bad experiences. There are plenty of other ways to get around Thailand, like the government buses or flying with Air Asia (cheap flights). The Thais use the government buses too and none use the tour agents from Khao San Road so go figure. Basically, when in Thailand just look what the Thais are doing -- If a restaurant is full of Thais it should be ok. If they are travelling by it, it should be ok. If a place is full of tourist it will be expensive or just not very good.
Also reviewed by Jon_Mak_Mak: Ayutthaya,