The Unforgettable Khao San Road Experience

I wrote this 9 months ago during my backpacking trip with my parents. Yes. You read that right..with Parents..Hope you like it.

I really want to write this down before I forget what happened. I am already exhausted because of the 8-hour bus ride from Cambodia to Bangkok, but this is the highlight of the day, so I have all the time to write this.

I am currently in Bangkok inside our very small hotel room in Khao San road. We arrived here at around 6:15pm and the van dropped us off 200 meters to our hotel. Khao San is a long street of hotels, restaurants, street foods and souvenir shops to accommodate and entertain backpackers from all over the world.

After eating all sorts of food for dinner, we went back to the hotel. My parents stayed inside, while I went out to explore the place, alone.

As we all know, Thai and Khmers are fond of eating insects. Filipinos eat them too but not the extreme ones like cockroaches and scorpions. You will find these stalls along Khao San Road, but based on my observation, they travel from place to place unlike the other stalls (Pad Thai, Kebabs, etc…). I don’t know why. Plus, they have this “10 Baht for a Photo” signage. Probably, most of the tourists (including me) would not dare to eat these scary-looking insects unless if you are a daredevil. So one way to earn is to charge a fee to take a picture.

While taking these pictures, the rain poured really hard making her customers flee. Not only that, but her umbrella malfunctioned spoiling most of her goodies. As for me, the challenge is to get back to the hotel as dry as possible (how selfish). While waiting for the rain to stop, this old lady appeared out of nowhere, selling rain coats and umbrellas.

Is she expecting this rain? I don’t know. But it was awesome. She was ready—a real girl scout.

The rain is getting heavier every minute. I have to leave the place. I have decided to get wet, have fun and have a unique experience walking along the famous Khao San Road. I placed my camera inside a plastic bag and started walking—not running. I got wet and I am happy about it. No regrets!

When I was in the dark and uncrowded area of the Khao San Road, I saw the girl selling the insects, alone, and looking sad. Like me, she was wet because of the rain. I asked her if she is already calling it a day. With sadness in her eyes, she affirmed my statement. I walked with her and talked to her. My ignorance consumed me again as I asked her if she’s scared of the insects. She laughed at me.

Getting wet in Khao San Road while having an exclusive chat with the lady who sells insects is just perfect — just magical.

Great experiences are indeed free.

Goodnight..

From Bangkok with Love