The Rise and Fall of Khaosan Road

When I first arrived in Bangkok in 1994, I followed the Lonely Planet guidebook’s advice and headed for Khaosan Road which was reportedly the place for backpackers in Bangkok. It is a short street about the length of about two city blocks at home, and was a hub of activity. The street was lined with restaurants, each totally open to the street and with a staircase leading to seedy rooms above. The rooms were tiny homes to bare beds and if you were lucky, a window and/or a ceiling fan. The bathrooms were shared, often with sinks in hallways, filthy squat toilets in tiny cubicles and showers that begged you to wear your sandals while performing your ablutions. Rooms went for about $2 a night. The restaurants were furnished with sturdy wooden tables and offered a wide variety of Thai delicacies, each one tastier than the last.

In front of the restaurants, stalls lined the sidewalks and spilled into the street offering such wares as bootleg cassette tapes, funky clothing and beaded jewellery. The deals were fantastic and it was impossible not to shop. Parties on Khaosan Road ran late into the night, backpackers drank endless bottles of beer as a mini UN met in each establishment. By 6:00 AM the street started to come alive again as vendors laid out the goods that had been packed up only a few hours earlier. I loved the vibe on the street.

When I returned to Bangkok in 2006, I made my first visit to Khaosan Road in the middle of an evening. The street was closed off to vehicles at this time of day but it was still almost impossible to weave my way through the mass of human traffic in the street. Neon lights glowed along the length of the street and music pumped out of the entrances of several bars whose depths were hidden behind black velvet curtains. A couple of the old restaurants were still there with their wooden tables and chairs, but I couldn’t find one set of stairs to rooms above. The guesthouses were all moved in behind the street, and I assume now offered clean rooms with windows and toilets. Settling onto one of the original, uncomfortable, wooden seats, I couldn’t find a green curry, but the menu offered hamburgers, souvlaki and every kind of pizza imaginable. Worse, a giant plastic Ronald MacDonald stood with his hands clasped in a prayer position in front of his restaurant mid-way down the street. Vendors sold bootleg CDs and DVDs, funky clothing and beaded jewellery as well as every trinket and souvenir imaginable. Backpackers sat patiently on plastic seats in the street as fake braids or dreadlocks were woven into their hair or henna tattoos applied to various body parts. The street didn’t wake up until mid-morning when the vendors and the backpackers had recovered from the previous night’s adventures. This new Khaosan Road was, as they say in Thailand, “same same but different”. I still enjoyed my short visits to the road whenever I passed through Bangkok, and sometimes I even sat on a hard wooden chair drinking a beer and watching the craziness on the street. But I never stayed long enough for a meal, preferring the real Thai fare in a nearby neighbourhood.

A short 18 months after my last visit to Bangkok, I arrived a couple of days ago to yet another Khaosan Road. This time, the music pumped out of not only the few darkened bars on the street, but also from every vendor’s stall and restaurant, each boom box trying to outdo the next. Touts walk through the throng of backpackers waving signs advertising “very strong” buckets of cocktails and handing out business cards for the various night clubs. I wandered the street last night, looking for a spot where I could indulge my pastime of people-watching from a sidewalk vantage point. After about ten minutes I left the street defeated. The head-pounding hip-hop and overwhelming crowds chased me into quieter venues. I don’t know which of us has changed the most, but I do know I have outgrown Khaosan Road.

Bangkok Blahs

I have spent a bit of time ambling around Bangkok and am somewhat underwhelmed. Perhaps it is my enthusiasm about starting my intensive self-help program, and even more so about getting to Nepal, but I really have no desire to spend any more time here. In previous visits I could have stayed in Bangkok for ages exploring the different parts of the city, but I was already bored of it after a couple of hours today. (I’m also still a bit tired/jetlagged, which may be part of the problem.) I have just booked a bus and boat to the island of Koh Phangan for tomorrow evening. It’s an overnight bus and there are certainly easier and more comfortable ways to travel, but I need to watch my pennies this time around. (12-hour bus and 3-hour boat cost a grand total of about $18.) I should arrive on Koh Phangan by about 10:00on Monday morning and will then find my way to the yoga centre.

I’ll spend a bit of time tomorrow reorganising my luggage. I can leave all my cold-weather clothes and miscellaneous other stuff here, so I can just take one small bag to Koh Phangan. It’s quite hot here, and very humid, but so far there hasn’t been any rain. It seems to alternate between partly sunny skies and threatening black clouds. If it keeps up like this I might get to spend some time at the beach down on the island. It sure beats the full-on monsoon I dealt with at this time of year in 2006. If the monsoon isn’t too bad, and ends early, I may take some time to explore a couple of other islands after the yoga session ends and before I fly to Kathmandu. I’ll play that by ear – no telling what my state of mind will be by then.

A Bit of Background

In the last post from my previous trip (December 18, 2007) I made mention of having difficulties settling into life in Canada. In fact, the subsequent couple of months got progressively worse and I struggled daily with living in the West. After so much time in Asia, I felt like I had one foot in each world and I couldn’t reconcile the two. As you may imagine, I changed enormously during my travels. This was partly due to the passive absorption of other cultures into my life and my way of thinking. But even more profound were the changes that I made on a conscious level and the work I did to overcome some issues that I had struggled with for years. The results were dramatic for me and I loved the person I became while I was away.

Once I arrived in Instanbul and started my reintegration with Western culture, I could feel these changes start to erode. But because I was still traveling and totally enthralled by the wonderful places I visited in the Middle East, I really didn’t pay much attention. After Turkey, my other destinations in that part of the world were much less Westernized and the process seemed to slow down significantly.

When I arrived home a couple of months later I was slapped in the face by my former life. I have heard other travellers comment that their greatest culture shock was encountered when coming home and I found myself suffering the same fate. As I started to adjust to life at home, I became more and more troubled by my regression towards the former me. There were days when I was dismayed by Canadian culture and other days when I was almost crippled by the despair I felt as I watched the person I had become slipping away from me. I tried to recapture my Asian life through various triggers such as music, incense, relaxation exercises and prayer, none of which proved effective. Finally, I could think of no other solution than to leave the West and return to Asia in the hopes that I could recreate the better me in the environment where she was initially born. I believe that I will ultimately find a way to live in Canada and still live the rich and rewarding life that so far has eluded me there. But before that can happen I need to build a more solid foundation and I believe that that can only happen in Asia.

Since the bulk of my personal progress was made in Nepal, and because that country feels more like home to me than anywhere else in the world, that is where I feel compelled to go. I also believe that the Himalayas provide a unique environment where I feel at peace and can grow spiritually. I am hoping to find some kind of work there that will allow me to stay in the country for a while and contribute to the wonderful society that brings me so much joy. In addition, I truly hope to find a new career path, the one thing that I didn’t manage to accomplish the last time I was away. I am still pretty much in the dark as to what direction this may take, but am optimistic that the right opportunity will present itself when I’m ready to receive it. I am leaving myself open to every possibility and will pursue all leads and contacts that come my way.

In the meantime, the month that I’m spending in Thailand at the Agama yoga centre is designed to give me a bit of a jump-start on the healing and growth process. It is not the perfect situation, but I have every reason to believe that it will allow me to focus 100% of my time on my own well-being both when I’m in classes and when I have downtime. I am convinced that it will provide a healthy and nurturing atmosphere where I can do this work without distraction.

I am so looking forward to starting the process.

Safe in Bangkok

If all of my travels could be so effortless, I’d never have any anxiety on the road. All three of my flights took off and landed exactly on time, with just the right amount of time to transit in the various airports. The 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong was only about half full so I got to stretch out, watch some movies and have the flight attendant (who I nicknamed Paulo the cabana boy) wait on my and and foot. It was almost like being in a resort, except for the occasional baby crying. I flew into Hong Kong just before sunset, and was treated to breathtaking views of the city and the surrounding islands. It is such a beautiful city and was made even more so by the changing light of the setting sun filtered through the smog. I do have to admit that landing at the new airport was somewhat less exciting than the highrise-dodging old days of approaching the runway in the harbour, which still sits there unused.

I haven’t seen much of Bangkok yet as I arrived late last night and was exhausted after my travels. I did notice that my immediate neighbourhood has changed substantially. Some establishments have closed and new ones have opened in their place as can be expected anywhere in the world. But the previously quiet side streets are now lined with small outdoor restaurants giving a much more cluttered and busy feel. I use the term restaurant generously: they are no more than street vendors with a few plastic tables set up around them. I guess that this neighbourhood is going the way of the rest of the city, which is a bit of a disappointment. I loved staying here for its charm and for the relative calm in the storm that is Bangkok.

I’ll leave you there for now...just wanted to let you know that I arrived safely. I’ll grab a meal, get my bearings and then sit down a write a real post. I'll also start answering all the e-mails that everyone has been sending over the last few days.