Khao San Road

I think I stated this previously, but prior to departing for my trip, I had hoped that this traveling adventure would lead me towards things and places I couldn't imagine.  What I wanted to avoid was being around a bunch of suburban whitey kids on their version of Spring Break.  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Khao San Road.  As mentioned previously, this was where the first few scenes of the movie, "The Beach" were supposedly filmed, or at least were inspired by this area (though after pulling the linked trailer from You Tube, their version of Wat Po is completely different from what it looks like in real life).  The movie makes this area look far more interesting than it is. 

About 90% of the people here were European whites (not counting street vendors or employees).  I instantly felt like I was in a crappy suburban shopping mall.  All of the stereotypes were present -- meathead douchebags walking around in packs; crappy Top 40 music blaring from every other restaurant; pseudo hippies wandering up and down the street.  I really didn't dig the vibe at all.

It's not to say that my area isn't touristy; I'd say it's more of the difference between the obnoxiousness of 6th street (Khao San Road) versus Red River or the east side (Sukhumvit -- my area) in Austin.  If I was 19, I'd probably love Khao San Road.

      

I tried to make the best of the situation, which worked in my favor.  As I meandered through the crowds, I finally encountered a fish massage!  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside.  Hmm -- is the fish massage legal?  Doubtful.  For $3, I got 10 minutes of sitting in what amounted to a hot tub with roughly 60 fish munching away on the dead skin on my toes, feet, ankles, lower legs, and calves.  It tickled like crazy, but was also relaxing.  Of course, because they're fish, they don't exactly do an even job -- one foot had more friends than the other, but it was a good time.  I did notice that my feet were pretty stinkin' smooth afterwards.

At this point, hunger had overtaken me, so I swam through the people and avoided anything resembling a KFC, Subway, Burger King, etc (all of the usual suspect chains are here except, curiously enough, McD's).  I found a decent looking Thai place and got a delicious meal and a random ginormous beer.

    
I'm a sucker for Engrish, so I was amused by the sign out front.

Done with my food, I decided to walk around a bit more until it got closer to boxing time.  Oh yeah...Thai boxing was next on the agenda.  I was ready to get outta Khao San Road and check out something else.