Farang Town
By Yasir
Khao San is where it is ‘happening’, as it is filled with motels and inns, tourists
and vendors of anything that has a price. It is the way it is, perhaps because there are more Farangs (foreigners) than locals. Locks of blonde hair, everywhere. We have all heard of Chinatowns, ‘Little Indias’ and so on, but I would prefer ‘Farang Town’ in reference to Khao San.
I heard that some of the tourists stay here for a (long) month. It seems that they like the ambience of this place and its offerings. I too would be happy to change US dollars for oodles of Thai bahts and spend it on massages and cheap, fake designer ware.
Could Khao San road be the Malaysian counterpart of Petaling Steet? More or less similar, Khao San is crammed with small stalls displaying a multitude of wares ranging from hair braiding services to fried bugs (roaches, maggots and all). The good thing about this market place is the wide walking space in the middle of the road (but, you will have to swerve drastically at times to avoid vehicles gunning by). Other than that, Khao San remains a backpacker’s heaven.
The road parallel to Khao San has different restaurants and
clubs. You see girls and guys on the road advertising their respective businesses: “Buy one cocktail, get one free”. This one time I ‘misheard’ the phrase as, “buy one cocktail, get me free”. It would have been something different but I guess in Thailand, this is not such a strange phrase afterall.
Apparently, the new governor of Bangkok (according to Ms Kanokrat Lertchoosakul, from Chulalongkorn University) wants to close down the existing small shops on the Khao San road temporarily to paint all the buildings according to a selected theme (similar colours, designs and so forth). Perhaps it would probably make the place more attractive, but this would be a long time of absence for vendors, which would mean bad news for tourists who apparently have such a liking to this place.
I am learning more and more about this place since day one and I look forward to taking in more of this diverse metropolis till July 11. God give me strength.
