Another great one Pat, thanks. I remember Khao San in the 90’s. I was a kind of backpacker light, without the rastafari hair, and I liked drinking beer with the locals better than playing the diggeridoo or what that aussie trumpet is called. I think I stayed at Marco Polo guest house, still around? Keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍 Btw, who the hell hits the thumbs down?
Thanks a lot mate, the Marco Polo was still there last year, but the sign has been taken down recently though. To be honest I don't think I've ever done a thumbs down, maybe on a couple of football vids years ago, maybe people expect a bit more, or I bore them by not showing Starbucks. But I'll expect a few thumbs down on this, a few old backpackers might see it.
Pat, you incorporate a dry sense of humor into your videos and it just adds volumes to the film. Brilliant! Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Cheers!!
I've been living at and going to Khao San Road since 2001 and this is incredible! Thank you for documenting the greatness of these times. It was a special time and place. It can never be recreated.
Gulliver's was awesome. I miss that place. The Club has been around a really long time there as well. It was way cheaper to drink back in the day - now khaosan isn't the cheap place it used to be. My first trip was 1992 and the guest houses were so so cheap beer and food was so cheap and it was real travel hub. In some ways it was more fun but now its so easy to do everything on line and that can be useful now and then....
Man I remember Gulliver's lol. As for a song that reminds me of Khaosan Road in 2006 when I got here, it must be Vinylshakerz take on one night in Bangkok. It was absolutely everywhere at every after hour club until it got raided, my pupils blasted with torches by police and out on the streets we were again. It used to go something like Sawasdee Smile Inn, Gecko Bar, Kalanbatu, Gullivers and then on to some insanity crappy place like Spicy or whatever they were called, there were quite a few of them a Tuktuk would take you "for free" due to the massive commission. Got to love those days, too bad I didn't get here earlier, but I sure have seen some transformation
I stayed there in 1989. My main memories are Bonnie's Guest House, US movies being played at nighttime in the open cafes, counterfeit tapes being sold (still have some of them), breakfast of yoghurt with fresh fruit, an old car parked with an ad for making calls back to Europe. [oh yes I forgot the insane food poisoning I had for the first few days] Then I went back in the 2006-2012 period and it was a great place to get fake IDs and driving licences. My last trip was in 2019 I think and could barely recognise it, the volume of the music pumping out in the evening was insane. No more fake IDs, and clothes stalls way too expensive.
I first went to Khao San Road in 1984. I went back again in 85 at ran in to some of the same guys I had met in 84. I stayed at VC Guesthouse that is long gone. I've been back to Thailand many times over the years I haven't been to KSR in 18 years. Even then it had changed too much for me and I wanted to preserve my old memories of what I thought was a cool place. Thanks for the great video!!
My first trip to Khao San was in 2022, right after they bounced back from the pandemic. They were quick and eager to get back to it. The place is nuts. A Thai friend told me it used to be a rice market as "khao" means rice. I’ve always wondered about its history beyond the clubs, beers, and balloons. This video is cool, Pat. Thanks for making it. Seeing that Rocco bar used to be Gulliver is some kind of history for me. HAHA. By the way, we new travelers have different nostalgia song. Mine is "Danza Kuduro!"
First trip to Thailand and the KSR was back in 2004. It was backpacker heaven back then, alas I have noticed a different (more family friendly perhaps?) vibe in my recent trips. Back then, Porcelain by Mobi (because of the movie The Beach, of course) was playing all day.
Greetings Bangkok Pat, what amazing content on Bangkok, it’s culture, history and traditions! I plan on watching them all as I see that you put tons of work into them and I commend you for such great work. I wanted to buy you a coffee or two however I only use PayPal when donating via RU-vid and RU-vid links. Thanks so much for sharing.
I stayed in a hotel there in 2004, it was an expensive shithole. Moved the next day to a great hotel on Sukumvit Rd for only a few £'s more. And I got ripped off by a Tuktuk on the way there, so my impressions of the place have been forever clouded.
Wow, soi rambutri, sawasdee guesthouse was the first place I stayed ever in Thailand, that was around 2000, the last time I was in that area was 2013, used to go past jitti gym, through that other place to cut through to Khao san, some great memories.
I stayed at the Viengtai a couple times 20 years ago (before you had the beef stroganoff). It was a stopever coming and going from work up in the North. The price was right, and the room was clean! I stopped going there after I realized I didn't care for the Khao San area as much as I thought!
Stayed in Khao san road many times in the mid 80,s . Remember the owner of the guest house had a pet monkey. Also being next door to a snooker club meant being kept awake till late with the sound of snooker balls rattling round. The market stalls at that time were full of knock off cassette tapes :)
"This is also a crocodile free zone". Thanks for this Info Pat! Now I feel a bit safer if I walk in these street and want order a Pad Thai :D You made a new "cat record" in this video :)
Thanks Franko! BBQ crocodile not available in that area, and I doubt it ever will be. Maybe a cat zoo will bring the tourists back to the atrea but no Chinese tourists allowed to visit.
I came here first time an early morning in 1987, but for some reasons I didn´t like Khao San thought it was too crowded with backpackers, so I immediately moved down to the old travelers centre at Soi Ngam Duplee Rama4 instead, where I stayed during many trips til early 2000s!
Any viewers experience P.B. Guest House and/or working as extras on Good Morning Vietnam back in 87? Best time of my life! I had run out of cash and I think they paid us 1,000 baht a day, a small fortune at the time. Plus night shifts on the movie Saigon....
I remember the pb guest house I stayed there a few times in the late eighties. There was a pool hall next door. The Chinese guy outside in the combat jacket usually sat on stool he was the best weed dealer on the road. Did the film extra job in chang mai. What a laugh 😁
Hi Pat, isn’t Gullivers in Sukhumvit soi 13 these days? One night in Bangkok is definitely the song that reminds me of my trips to Thailand, although I prefer the earlier version by Robey, the video clip is really befitting the song...
Sorry for late response Paul, Gullivers in Sukhumvit soi 5 recently called it a day. Maybe there is one somewhere in Soi 13 but I didn't see it last time I was there. One Night in Bangkok is a classic that will never die. You get the old guys who think they're too big to dance to it if it comes on, which is amusing
My first ever night in Thailand spent KS rd, 1992 arrived at 3am. it was dead, no all nighter nonsense then! trash burning in a 44 gallon drum, dreadful 90 baht room, that didnt lock, I thought I'd be robbed, didnt sleep a wink till sunrise, and moved to a windowless box a few doors down with a new aicon unit! Then I stopped being kee nok cheaap an moved to Silom for the rest of the trip! I was religious then, and was a very good boy!
Sometimes roughing it can be a bit extreme, l stayed cheap once on my first visit with the "l just need a place to sleep" attitude and it was so full of cockroaches that l didn't want to get off the bed with all my baggage. Since then l've chosen good quality hotels carefully and been lucky!
Great video Pat and Karl. I visited this area on my last trip to Bangkok and absolutely loved the nostalgia of the old vibe, visited the Malaysian hotel and could picture the parties that must have went on in the pool and bar area there. The stories that would have come out of this hotel and surrounding area would be unbelievable I recon. Great history 🎉
another good one first time in bangkok in the early 80s skipped the lonely planet guide for cheaper guide that was useless, first of many mistakes but that's part of the travel adventure I suppose,with today's media you can learn too much I reckon and some of the surprise is taken away.
Thanks mate. The internet came along and took all the surprise factor away. Nowadays people won't visit someplace unless they can watch a decent clip online first, so they know it'll all be ok. Reading paper maps, travelling adventures and taking pot luck is all out the window nowadays. Maybe people are harder to please.
Great content , captivating , Your vlogs would not be out of place on TV . Slowly making my way through all your videos and loving everyone of them .Thanks for your efforts.
I think as pets, we appreciate them more due to their ability to have a separate life away from us when they go out on their adventures (if you let your cat outside) which means they aren't always hanging around us, we don't need to walk them or take them out for the toilet
Thanks Dennis, and you're right, Ibis hotel and a McDs, says a lot about the new generation of travelers that go to Khao San Road, but before the virus they had plans to make the area Chinese friendly: www.samuitimes.com/out-with-the-backpackers-in-with-the-chinese-khao-san-road-makeover-continues/
There were more of those types many years ago, the hippie types who were so carefree they wanted to be at one with their surroundings. Last girl I saw barefoot walking around there was texting on her phone, so it kinda cancels it out!
Thanks Colin, glad you found the channel. There are many one dimensional channels around that are popular, easy to watch I suppose, and they upload a lot more often so get promotion.
KSR is so busy during songkran, you have to hold onto the people you're with or you'll lose each other. I don't mind BKK without the hordes of tourists.
@@BangkokPat Too hard to tell right now. Over-reactions to corona. And if vaccines can't keep up with mutations then it'll be longer if they continue the lockdowns.
Great video. I used to love to sit in a restaurant or bar all night ( or day) and just watch the people talk about a melting pot. Also loved staying at one of the places behind the Wat, decent room with air con, wi-fi and a pool for 900 baht a night. Hopefully soon it will come back
Thanks Chuck, glad you have positive memories, plenty of moaning in some quarters...before the virus struck they were prepping the place to go all Chinese, not sure if that'll continue or they'll give up and take whoever they can now. www.samuitimes.com/out-with-the-backpackers-in-with-the-chinese-khao-san-road-makeover-continues/
Gulliver's was such a good laugh. They had a trophy 🏆 display case on one of the walls with sports memorabilia in it. One night quite hammered I managed to open the case and appropriate a replica World Cup🤷🏼♂️ even got it into the nightclub we went to later.....seemed like a fun idea at the time😂. Sorry Gulliver's for stealing your replica World Cup 🏆
@@BangkokPat Haha yes I noticed a few years ago it had closed down. As for the World Cup it made it all the way to Vietnam....I accidentally knocked it off my table and it broke into pieces of plaster. The cargo handlers must have done the old switcheroo with the solid gold Gulliver's replica World Cup 😁
15 minutes you say Pat, I loved the extra bonus minutes then. Nice trip back down memory lane to busier times, amazing how recognisable this area still is from back in the early days, thus far it has been spared the modernisation experienced in other bangkok areas. I think rather than the number of cats in the video I am now looking at the number of different tshirts that I see you wearing. Incredible dedication for sure.
The intro is usually the last thing I shoot, and I genuinely thought I had about 15mins worth. Then I do the first final cut and it's bloody 28 minutes.....That area is part of the Old City so it gets spared the usual malls and condo developments, so it hasn't changed much. I need a few new shirts, there's a couple I even wore a year ago but it shows I buy quality long lasting shirts, right?
9.43 on, the old fort, beautiful memories, a unique time , the old canals. the Chao Phrayha...a magical space... the old new world shopping center...nostalgia is now becoming a mystical dream...
So many backpacker trips started on this road. I remember the fake ID's and University Degree's they were selling :) Thanon Khao san changed a lot but still special. I watch "the beach" sometimes when i miss Thailand.
At 2:38 in this video clip, I'm the guy in the background sporting a necktie with the Bible in my hand. I've been binge watching your video clips and found myself in one of them, too! Keep up the videos!
@@BangkokPat Yes, it is a small world: though Bangkok is inhabited by over 10 million people, it is still, at times, more of a large village than a city.
So damned noisey. The bars vie for your business by attempting to play the loudest music, and as you walk down the street they stick menus in your face as if the drink prices aren't nearly the same. I'd like to hang out there, but I have to keep walking because the music is so damned loud. Duh!! Can't you think of a better way to get customers in? And who wants to sit under blaring speakers? You certainly can't talk to your date.
I agree, it's hell. Was never that bad in the past. It did reopen before tourists returned and the mentality is "louder= better" for the locals but that doesn't really get tourists through the doors. The places with highest volume have the least people so if they can't work that out they shouldn't be in business.
@@BangkokPat I wear ear buds as plugs every where I go in Thailand. I love the country and the people, and they get so many things right, like bathrooms, and the tall buildings seem to stay upright, but some things you just want to fix for them and they're just not interested. So now I just go to Nana plaza and in and around the Sportsman bar area clubs where you can hear yourself think and carry on a conversation. I mean seriously, Koa Son road is over the top loud. Not just a little! Wouldn't it be smarter to hand out free drink cards? Buy 3 get 1 free? One bar in Krabi had a pretty girl pouring shots down your throat if you came through the door. Koa Son road? No. Menu in your face as if you can read in the dark. Bone shaking blaring music! Duh!!
I know the type you mean Kevin, also, it's the pretend ones that are even worse. Especially when they have a smartphone, eat at McDs expect a craft beer menu at a street food stall and some even use a vape
There were a few old clubs on the way out at first, Leos Grotto, Faith Club, Liquid, Asoke Bar. But nothing too fancy or flash, QBar once, Sin, Titanium when it first opened was a music orientated club, CM2, wherever they paid, I played. Did a lot of hotel work as well, posh parties, int. school proms, graduation parties.
Judith charmers eat your heart out ! Nailed it again great informative video. I've a couple of lambrettas myself and planning to bring one over 1963, Spanish rat. Need to hook up with someone who knows how to jump through the hoops. My girl worked in shipping 5 years ago hopefully she can get someone to help bkk end ( 💸 💰 🤑 💲)
Sorry for late response Kev, thanks mate. That Lambretta cafe and garage would definitely be the best place to talk to, as I did have a chat with the owner at the time. I've got his Line ID.
@@BangkokPat 555 I've ridden all over Europe but I'm banned for riding in bkk ! Obviously she wears the trousers ! If I manage to import it I can confidently say I'd have the only Spanish in Thailand... ok its not about that it would be rare
The improvements were for the Chinese tourists. Vendors were learning Chinese and it was all supposed to be great for tourism from China. Then covid came.
For as many times as I have been to Thailand over the past 20 years... even in my younger raging party days... KSR was one place I have never really got into. Although I did like chillin at Gullivers and drinking and meeting random people from around the world... Even in my 20's when I was chatting up the Thai uni girls and they would always try to get me to take them there for partying I would mostly pass. I could not stand the dirty back packers... it's been interesting to see it taken back by the the younger Thai set and will be interesting to see if the "dirty backpackers" return en masse once (IF) we see a return to normalcy... Another great vid Pat.. cheers!
Hi Joni, hope you're all good in your part of the world, it's definitely not the place it was, and it stopped being a cool place anyway about 10yrs ago anyway!
I really preferred the Rambuttri Road to Khao San. I dont know why but I heve never been a backpacker. What I see as a downside was the poor communications to Khao San. The Chao Phraya ferries being most convenient.
Hi Pat, thanks for always being so positive & upbeat in these harrowing times. Another classic video of former days brought up to date. Only went down Khao San a couple times, back in the day,( late 80's), for me it was just too scruffy, although it had great character. Do you remember those Indian guys who used to walk down there with tables on their heads/shoulders, selling plastic bags of repulsive looking insects which always tasted delicious after fifteen bottles of Kloster/Singha? Ha ha!!!!! By the way, loved the clip of Colin Hay( down under) from Men At Work, in his ''fried out Kombie,'' cursing away!!! Brilliant!!! Keep up the great work Pat, stay safe stay happy!!! Chok Dee!!!!
Hi Anton, glad you liked it. I had to illustrate the hippie trail somehow, so that song came to mind and the great video. I was gonna play the clip of the van breaking down but there's odd copyright rules that needed to keep by. I think I'm allowed those 4secs but no sound! The late 80s was well before my time so those Indian furniture carriers were long gone by the time I appeared in 2000. Never tried insects, never wanted to either!
I knew about Khao San Road even before my first trip to Thailand in 1987. For whatever reason I never went there even after having been married to a Thai for 30+ years. Finally in 2018 in a trip back my wife just randomly said lets go to Khao San when we were leaving the Siam Square area. I don't know why as we never even discussed it on our trip agenda. But having never been, I took that as a signal to go and finally see the legend. We had a very nice time. Truth be told it felt a bit like a sanitized version of the Nana area. That's not a criticism. There's a time and place for everything and my years of sowing my wild oats had been played.
Followed boxing for over 30yrs. Been to a few fights in London in the 90s, did some muay Thai here in the 2000s. Always watch it and follow it as much as possible.
@@BangkokPat Interesting, thanks. I'd noticed the t-shirts. I saw Tim Witherspoon fight at York Hall one night after work in the 80's. Love the sport, and never tire of watching the Rumble and Thrilla on RU-vid.
nothing is like back in the days...today for many will later be their back in the days...asia thailand and the world is moving forward....wherever this forward will land us, or its a never ending circle...a great video brought up lots of memories...old men are looking back...young men just live today
they play loud red hot chili pepper song..dani California during my visit in khaosan road..great memories..have been walking around the area and i read a dark history in the canal..that just awesome considering how the area is now becoming one the main attraction especially khaosan area..
I am binge watching Pat's videos tonight and thoroughly enjoying them all. I feel a bit guilty though - I have never properly explored Bangkok. The videos partly make up for it.
Cheers James, was a bit livelier back in '99 that's for sure mate. Hope you're well mate, saw the fire damage, caused by a typical cowboy job as usual 🍺
Some of the area you had It showed sounds and looks for miller's too me I'm sure I have been to some Off this part of the city the Place haven't changed haven't changed that much since the 70th . I appreciate you for sharing And the details of them.
The old police station used to have a row of telephones and on the walls a line of clocks with different zones around the world, for distraught young backpackers to ring their anxious parents about the fix they have got themselves in.
Many times spent there, but it tapered off the last few years as I got older.... Backpackers just arent interested in partying with an old guy i guess (52 aint that old though !) . Last few years i tried talking to them they just looked at me like rabbits caught in the headlights. Good times from 2010 - 2015 though. Many a night in Gullivers a true mix of people in there. Met my first thai gf there. Used to drink in Gheko bar also to people watch - worst toilet in Khao San! Ha ha hs
@@nwils6944 yep, all the piss heads used to hang around there. There was a ginger guy who used to work at the same school i was at. Complete alcoholic, he was even in a "Before bangkok - after bangkok" meme with Chuck Norris! Pretty sad though really. Assume he's now dead or deported as u say. Even the daughter of the owner is an alcoholic, used to try and get beers off me, but one day she punched me in the chest - i stopped talking to her after that really..... Anyway , was a good place to chill and watch the flow of life....before heading to Golf bar or Gullivers (a great mix of life, hookers, ladyboys , normal people, piss heads and the odd total loser such as myself - i used to stand on a box in the corner, the loser box bwa ha ha) or even 'The Club' used to hv good trance if u like that sort of thing!
Being that age is probably an issue in that area as you're classed as a ''dirty old man'' in western eyes if you're trying to make conversation in places there. Not so much in other parts of Bangkok, it's about enjoying the night without stigmas. Gullivers was a mix of everyone and anyone as well as a few of the other, but a lot of fun. Most recently while making the video there's been only one street food stall open in the whole of Khao San Rd itself, luckily the beer was cold. A couple of places along Rambutri as well.
Do you remember the Sikh fortune teller back allys and a french woman begging for money after claiming she lost her money (was there years). Spent the best days of my life there. So sad to see it empty
What a long wait😀. You are truly enthusiastic in making a very good video. 👍👍 There’s tonnes of memories arisen from all folks of tourists after watching this video. The famous Khao San which I used to pass by walking towards to Wat Bowon Niwet Wihan, Rambutri road to the National Gallery and crossing to the Grand Palace, the Phra Athit pier which was my most visited pier, night and day. Really loved it. Thanks again for your hard work making this nice video 👍👍👍
Thank you so much JP, there are indeed some great spots around there, Pra Athit Road would be cool to live along overlooking the river, some nice private homes along Rambutri, National Gallery is closed for refurbishment at the moment. I'm putting the finishing touches to the other half of the old city video, in a few days.
Bangkok Pat Yes Pat, I did it once to stay besides the tiny river just to try to feel the khlong ambient, but the ferry had long been stopped in service that year 😅, though it was still enjoyable to have a beer on the rooftop during evening hours. Pat, it is nice to know from your video and information that the Rambutri area is full with nice private homes which I might have overlooked. Take your time to produce the next video, as we all can’t go far at least for the moment. 😉
Really like and appreciate your broadcasts. I mentioned, on another Channel, how odd I find it that so much money is being invested by Municipalities that are surely already in financial hoc up to the eyeballs, due to the current situation, in the Gentrification of areas almost invariably popular with the “Common Man” - such as Walking Street, in Pattaya. Even in my area of the UK, similar works are underway and I have it on good authority that such is, pretty much, a worldwide phenomena. In popular tourist resorts of Thailand, overhead cables are being placed below surface, roads and pavements are being torn up and resurfaced, buildings are being levelled to make way for new (Hi-So) structures. In their doing so, I can’t help but lament the loss of the chaotic and even (some might say) the sleaze of some of these areas which added more than a little to their former charm and attraction. Almost as if there is an unspoken “plan” being undertaken (I choose that word advisedly).
Thanks a lot for the kind words, sorry for the late reply.. Gentrification has caught on here in the last decade, but they aren't preserving any heritage or caring about what they demolish, currently, the Dusit Thani is getting that treatment, an icon of a hotel, not even preserving anything at all. Wiped from history for another commercial clone of a development like dozens of others all going up. Typical 3rd world mentality, they think if they catch up with modern cities, it'll look credible, but the character of Bangkok is vanishing, Blandcock is a better word. We got the memories to enjoy, new visitors don't know ny different. Shame.
I appreciate all the cats in your videos, but you missed "Cat Alley" - it used to be full of Siamese, presumably from Wat Bowon, just down from Rat Island (at the end of Rambutri).
G'day pat , Nicely put together again , good to see some areas have been spared the vast up heavel of condoisms thus keeping some form of nostalgia for us who wish to see or remember what it was like way back in the day, how wonderful to see those hidden gems (record shop) , any way keep em coming ... Catchya...
Hey Steve great to hear from ya. Great thing about the old city area is it's off limits to any ridiculous projects that alter the skyline and mood. Bit like a heritage law, in the UK it's very serious, any developments in central London can't block or alter the view of the old landmarks. Shame the rest of Bangkok is a bit of a mess like that but some of the buildings deserve to go. Working on the other half of the old city now....Take care mate!
