Khaosan Road Night Market in Bangkok: Thailand unplugged

My first night in Bangkok and the country of Thailand starts with a stroll among a thousand revelers in the crowded Khaosan night market. This primarily food and drink market used to be a rice-trading neighbourhood once upon a time. Then the locals started opening up their houses to backpackers for accommodation and dining, making Khaosan Road what it is today.

First impressions of Khaosan Road night market

A million noises fight for my attention. Every restaurant and bar is blaring loud music. Here, tourists sit in open-air pubs and people-watch for hours. Local Thais have put up makeshift stalls selling everything from sex toys to kitchenware to unusual meats.

In a distance, on a cart a roasted crocodile hangs. Two boys are cutting out portions of it for buyers. A queue has gathered by their cart. I see the cart owners have put up a board asking people to pay them if they do take a close shot.

Just to its opposite, a man walks with a box hanging from his neck. The lid of the box is open and in it are my worst nightmare—gigantic spiders. These are dead and probably roasted. I see a man eating one. A placard in his box also says people taking photos and videos are expected to pay him. I immediately leave, while Sayan(my travel partner and husband) muses on. I have arachnophobia. Later, I spot tourists eating fried bugs, crickets, frogs, scorpions and many other unusual items.

A few metres ahead, a man is walking around with a long fat snake wrapped around his neck. He expects to earn money from tourists who would like to click or shoot videos of him. Being from India, I am well aware of the poverty that haunts my country and what odd jobs people are forced to do to make ends meet. This sight in Thailand, reminds me of the terrible financial inequalities that plague societies.

Skin business

Massage service providers flock the road and call me from right and left. The foot massages available here are inexpensive and worth the dime. Some foot massage servicewomen and men have put out chairs in the outdoors.

Prostitution is illegal in Thailand but it is no secret that major portions of people visiting Thailand are sex tourists. In a weird setup, sex workers here face heavy handedness of the law if caught in the act but their client doesn’t face the music. In Khaosan Road night market, sex workers subtly make them known. Still the ones in Khaosan Road are way less ambitious and more demure compared to the ones I saw in Ho Chi Minh city’s (in Vietnam) night market! Employees of bars hosting controversial and weird ‘ping pong shows’ also roam here trying to lure tourists.

Giving in to Indian food

I see too many Indians on the street. Not surprisingly, unlike Vietnam, the streets here are cluttered with Indian food restaurants left and right. I haven’t eaten Indian food since leaving India two weeks ago. To Sayan’s dismay, I gladly walk in to one Indian restaurant and eat the worst Vindaloo chicken I have ever eaten. I am partially to be blamed for this goof-up. The people who are running the place are north Indians, so I should have ordered something north Indian to be on the safer side, but I ordered Goan Vindaloo instead.

After dinner, we contemplate sitting in one of the open-air bars—these are just chairs on the street. However, neither of us is a fan of the mish-mash of loud music that can almost be called ‘noise’, so we drop the idea and leave.

It is not that I expected Khaosan market to be any different. On this Southeast Asia trip, I wanted to experience ‘crazy party’ scenes popularized in media and form my own opinion about it.

Well, the verdict has been formed.

Both of us are okay for an hour or so but can’t bear the ridiculous noise more than that.

Have you been to Khaosan road night market in Bangkok? Share your experiences below!

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