Khaosan road or Khao San road (Thai: ถนนข้าวสาร) is a short road in central Bangkok, Thailand. It is located in the Banglamphu neighborhood (Phra Nakhon district) about 1 km north from the Grand Palace with Wat Phra Kaew. It has developed over the years into probably the most profound worldwide example of a "backpackers' ghetto", with relatively cheap accommodation compared to other areas of central Bangkok. The accommodation varies from 'mattress in a box' style hostels, to full Western-standard luxury.
Many tourists use Khaosan road as their base for exploring the rest of Thailand as there are many direct coaches from the street to virtually all major tourist destinations in Thailand, from Chiang Mai in the North to Ko Pha Ngan in the South. Many visitors will also take advantage of the abundance of relatively cheap travel agents to arrange visas and transport to surrounding countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia despite the fact that almost every travel agent offering services on the road is a scam of some sort.
Thai government buses departing from Bangkok's bus depots are often cheaper, and are always faster, more efficient, far less prone to scams and theft, punctual, and deposit passengers only at central bus depots.
Crafts, paintings, clothes, pirate CDs, DVDs, fake educational diplomas, fake driver's licenses, food (including fried insects), second hand books as well as many items useful to backpackers are among the common goods traded along the road.
Khaosan road has in recent years also become popular among local people, especially artists and art students. The road hosts a number of pubs and bars, where people of many nationalities meet and discuss their travels. Khaosan and the streets nearby are also Bangkok's center of dancing, partying and splashing water during Thai New Year (Songkran festival) on April 13 to April 15.
It is one of Bangkok's most vibrant streets, 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." The street certainly attracts some bizarre characters. Any visit to Bangkok is incomplete without a people-watching beer on Th Khaosan, an experience that could only be compared to a visit to a zoo; some consider it has degenerated into a tourist ghetto.
Khao san means 'raw rice' in Thai. Before it became a tourist hotspot, the street was a major rice market for Bangkok.
posted by Glommiary at 11:17 PM
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