Khao Sanarchy

After writing yesterday's blog post, I took a short nap then went down to the lobby of my hostel. There were a bunch of people hanging out on the porch outside the hostel so I joined them. We sat for a while then decided to go to Khao San Road. Dedicated readers of this blog may recall that I had already been to Khao San Road earlier that day but I had nothing better to do so our group piled into three cabs and made our way to Khao San.

Khao San Road during the day is basically a very busy touristy market. At night, it is the street is closed off and thousands of backpackers wander through the street. It is an astonishing display of pure hedonism. Walking down the street, I repeatedly had to decline offers of buckets (plastic pails filled with liquor and enough soda to make it not taste like liquor) and balloons full of laughing gas.

Our group avoided the buckets and balloons and instead made our way to a small rooftop club. It was packed with people. There was a small stage up front where a Thai man with a guitar and another with a drum played popular songs in English. I must say that I did not expect to come to Thailand and hear someone performing “Hotel California.”

He also played a modified version of "Country Roads" that included the lyric "Khao San Road, take me home to the place I belong."

After hanging out in the club for a while, we made our way outside and bought food from the street vendors there. I bought a skewer of what I believe was chicken and later bought a spring roll from another vendor. There were also several stands selling cooked tarantulas, scorpions, and various other things most people wouldn’t eat unless they were on a reality TV show.

After eating, we piled back into cabs and headed back to the hostel. Khao San Road certainly was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever witnessed but I can’t deny that I had a lot of fun there.