Khaosan Road
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Khaosan Road or Khao San Road (Template:Langx, Template:Rtgs, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a short street in central Bangkok, Thailand. It is Template:Convert in length and was constructed in 1892 during the reign of Rama V.<ref name="aecnews">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is in the Bang Lamphu area of Phra Nakhon District about Template:Convert north of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew.
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"Khaosan" translates as 'milled rice', indicating that in former times the street was a major Bangkok rice market.<ref name="aecnews" /> However, historical records from when the road was first completed during the reign of Rama V indicate that none of the local residents were involved in the rice trade at that time. This suggests that rice trading in the area probably began earlier, in the early Rattanakosin period during the reigns of Rama I to Rama III.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the last 40 years, Khaosan Road has developed into a world-famous "backpacker ghetto".<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It offers cheap accommodation, ranging from "mattress in a box"-style hotels to reasonably priced three-star hotels. In an essay on the backpacker culture of Khaosan Road, Susan Orlean called it "the place to disappear".<ref>Susan Orlean, "The Place to Disappear", in The Best American Travel Writing 2001, Jason Wilson and Paul Theroux, eds. (Mariner Books, 2001), pp. 228–237.</ref> According to the Khao San Business Association, the road has 40,000–50,000 tourists per day in the high season, and 20,000 per day in the low season.<ref name="BP-20190804">Template:Cite news</ref>
Visitors to Khao San Road are diverse:<ref name=":0" />
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In this small area one can observe the interactions and groupings of disparate characters such as un-educated young Westerners on extended leave from affluent society, high school graduates on gap year travels, Israelis fresh out of military service, university students on holiday or sabbatical leave, young Japanese in rite-of-passage attire, ordinary holidaymakers, (ex-) volunteers from various organizations, and the like.{{#if:|
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It is also a base for travel: coaches leave daily for all major tourist destinations in Thailand, from Chiang Mai in the north to Ko Pha-ngan in the south. There are many relatively inexpensive travel agents who can arrange visas and transportation to the neighbouring countries of Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and Vietnam.<ref name="CNN-20210129">Template:Cite news</ref>
Khaosan shops sell handicrafts, paintings, clothes, local fruits, unlicensed CDs, DVDs, a wide range of fake IDs, used books, and other useful backpacker items.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After dark, bars open, music is played, food hawkers sell barbecued insects and other exotic snacks for tourists,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and touts promote ping pong shows.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There are also cannabis shops.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The area is known internationally as a center of dancing, partying, and just prior to the traditional Thai New Year (Songkran festival) of 13–15 April, water splashing that usually turns into a huge water fight.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One Thai writer has described Khaosan as "...a short road that has the longest dream in the world".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
A Buddhist temple under royal patronage, the centuries-old Wat Chana Songkram, is directly opposite Khaosan Road to the west, while the area to the northwest contains an Islamic community and several small mosques.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
History
According to those who had lived in Bang Lamphu for many years, the first guesthouse on Khaosan Road opened around 1982 in a narrow soi (alley) connecting to Ratchadamnoen Avenue. At that time, Khaosan Road was very quiet. There were small shophouses on both sides of the street, including beef noodle shops, grocery stores, Thai fabric stores, and 3–4 illegal snooker clubs frequented mostly by teenagers. There were also a few old houses belonging to the local gentry.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In July 2018, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), in an attempt to clean up Khaosan Road, announced that street vendors would be removed from the thoroughfare from 1 August 2018. The BMA intended to move them to a nearby area and restrict their trading hours to 18:00 to midnight.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Khaosan Street Vendors Association, representing some 300 vendors, rejected the move, citing financial ruin for vendors.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Last-minute negotiations between the BMA and vendors proved fruitless as neither side was willing to compromise.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Khaosan vendors announced that, in defiance of BMA order, they would be open as usual on 1 August.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On the first day of the ban on stalls, roughly 70 percent of the vendors opened as usual in defiance of the police.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2019 facelift
In 2019, the BMA announced that it would commit 48.8 million baht to transform Khaosan Road into an “international walking street".<ref name="BP-20190804" /> The works were completed in 2020, accelerated in-part thanks to a sharp decline in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Gutters connected to the main drainage system were installed on both sides of the road, and a designated space for emergency vehicles to park was constructed.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> A space management plan was put in place, with hundreds of vendors allocated designated stalls and scheduled shifts.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1" /> The road reopened on the same year.