The Center of the World for Backpackers

Jonathan talks about backpackers and the famous Khao San Road in Bangkok here. Here's a chance for you to get used to listening to a Thai accent if you ever decide to journey to Thailand.



Khao San Road is a short road in Central Bangkok. "Khao San" means wild rice in Thai.

Khao San is one of Bangkok's most vibrant cities, host to people from around the world. One Thai writer described the road as, "a short road that has the longest dream (?) in the world." It is located in the Banglampoo neighborhood about 1 kilometer north from the Grand Palace with Wat Prakaaw.

Khao San Road is getting busy right after the sun falls. The road is closed and the whole street is set for people, food stalls, cafes, bars, street performers, and those who enjoy sitting on the sidewalk drinking with a bottle of beer in hand.

The most famous activities on Khao San Road are shopping, braiding hair, drinking, and sightseeing for joker (??) performance.

The most famous food on Khao San Road is Pad Thai. A trip to Khao San Road wouldn't be complete without sampling the street vendors' take on this popular, tasty, and nutritious cheap Thai dish. There are Thai style spring rolls too. If you are brave or drunk enough, you can try to eat fried insects.

There are many styles of shops, for example, clocks, paintings, clothes, DVDs, fruit, second hand books, as well as many items useful to backpackers are among the common goods traded along the road.

Most accomodations on Khao San Road are box style (??) hotels to full western style and luxury hotels. The price is cheaper than other hotels that are appropriate for backpackers.

There are many optional ways to Khao San Road. The visitors can go by Tuk-Tuk, taxis, motorcyles, and by foot. Khao San Road is not located close to the Sky Train or underground station but that certainly hasn't put a damper on the areas popularity.