I have been living in Bangkok for well over a year now on and off and the first thing I tell people is not to go visit Khao San Road. I was there only a few days ago and I will admit I had a good time. I met a few friends who were here on holiday for a stag duo and it was fun, well they were fun. The actually street of Khao San Road was a fucking shithole full of kunty young trashpackers annoying me. Although I did have a good time there, it was because of the people I was with, I mean you can have a fun few hours in prison when you’re with the right people, but that doesn’t mean you want to fucking be there.
All tourist books recommend going to Khao San Road, well yeah maybe 10 or 15 years ago, but now there are 101 other places in Bangkok which are much better. Anyway here are my 4 reasons not to visit. Feel free to add your own in the comments
To many farang girls, and not enough Thai chicks
Pasty white farang girls or overweight white chicks, hmm no thanks Jeff! Although Khao San Road does have quite a few Thai girls but not as many as other places such as RCA or Sukhumvit. But hey if you’re into white girls, it may just be heaven.
It’s full of lonely planet wankers
I’ll admit that I am a wanker too, but I am wanker with a bit more class. I remember walking on Khao San and within seconds I was getting nudged by tons of trashpackers in the “hustle and bustle” as the guides call it. One kunt even nudged me on purpose, the funny thing was I could of put him down faster than dog with a broken leg, but I decided to let it go (see more class).
I keep walking and I see girls wearing tye and dye pants, guys in Chaing singlets drinking beer as they walk along while trying to grow some stupid facial hair that looks more like hipster bum fluff. I have not even been here two minutes and I am already annoyed at everything.
Getting bombarded by tuk tuk and taxi drivers
I got all the love in the world for a soapy massage or a happy ending massage, but I don’t need to be pestered by annoying tuk tuk drivers who get a huge commission for taking me. I am like:
“Hey brah, I run a borderline sex pat blog, does it like I need to be told where to go to get those services?”
If they are not offering to take me to said place, then they are refusing to use meter to take me to where I want to go and giving me some over inflated price. Or they use the meter than take me to the massage shops anyway!
It’s not real Bangkok
Sadly, tourists have overtaken Khao San Road, it’s more like being in an island in Spain like Ibiza or Magaluf than actually in Thailand. It’s just another tourist strip where they sell the usual tourist trinkets and touts try to rip you off. Khao San Road is not a real representation of Bangkok, there’s so many other great places to go to eat and drink.
KSR has pushy nightclubs
Entry to all nightclubs are free in Khao San Road, I ended up going to one last year, it may have been the club I am not sure. I didn’t want to get a drink just yet as I was still quite drunk, after being approached 5 times in 5 minutes to buy a drink I told them not to ask me again and I will buy one when I am ready and feel better. Apparently this was not a good enough reason, and some dude I assume the manager starts swearing and me and tells me to leave shouting all kinds of words at me. I understand he is running a business but if I want to wait 15-20 minutes before I order my first drink, I think that is reasonable, well it is in most bars and clubs around Sukhumvit. Anyway he kicks me out, I didn’t bother to cause a fuss, because I would not win and in hindsight he was doing me a favour by making me leave.
What I do like about Khao San Road
Once you can see past the scams, and the endless drones of backpackers who ruin it for everyone else, there are a few good things about Khao San Road. The food is decent, but that’s true with most places in Bangkok, and the alcohol is fairly cheap, which once again is true in Bangkok.
Most of the Thai people working there are great people and always friendly, they have hard jobs looking after drunken tourists who don’t understand the Thai culture and just generally be dicks.
In a way I am actually glad Khao San Road exists, it keeps the annoying backpackers away from places we do like to visit, like RCA, Sukhumvit, Ratchada, and Sliom. I may be harsh on backpackers, but the new breed of backpackers are annoying as shit, don’t believe me, just go into any hostel in SEA and see for yourself. Good fun still still be had in Khao San though, it’s all about who you go with and what you make it.
