As Beethoven once said, ‘When a man is tired of Khao San Road, he is tired of backpackers’, but the truth of this misses the point about the oft maligned and more oft frequented road in question, which is the first stop in Thailand for the majority of Western visitors.
There is, quite simply, nowhere else on Earth like the Khao San Road. It would be wrong to claim it is a mix of cultures since it is a souvenir shop-style imitation of culture that is represented on both sides of the proverbial street. It’s not Eastern enough to be not-quite-East and not Western enough to be not-quite-West. Yet to deny the place has a very real soul would be to deny that you watched at least one action movie there after haggling over a pair of flip-flops worth 75p. The energy of the place is irresistible.
Obviously I had to get out of the place as soon as possible and go and find a beach to sit on. With my usual unerring instinct in such matters, I chose Koh Chang, which was enjoying the best of a season of tropical storms at the time. I did the only sensible thing and embarked on a gruelling journey to the remote town of Pai, minding its own business in the mountains of the north. It seems incongruous to me that places like Pai and Khao San Road can exist on the same planet, but then I do suffer from a startling lack of imagination – I have, for instance, eaten nothing but toast for the past five weeks.
Pai is beautiful, relaxing and welcoming. Unfortunately, being landlocked, it lacks diving opportunities and so before long I was once again compelled to gruel myself with various Thai means of transport. This time the destination was Koh Tao, diving capital of Thailand and possibly my favourite island in the world (and I’ve seen at least three). You can find whatever you want on Koh Tao; nightlife, peace and quiet, vegetables, and lots of divers.
I had, of course, forgotten about the tropical storms I’d been sitting through the fortnight before and found the sea conditions to be very much like diving in gravy, only with less to see.
Don’t forget your Lonely Planet South-East Asia on a Shoestring, which goes very well with the Lonely Planet Diving and Snorkelling guide to Thailand, which I ignored at my peril. And typically, the Rough Guides map of Thailand is both excellent and waterproof, but should not be used as a raft in an emergency.
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Author: Rob Hunt