The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free.

Khao San Road in Bangkok, Thailand.

Khao San Road is stretch in Bangkok where backpackers seem to conglomerate. Before coming I had this image in my head of it being some seedy street, dark and dangerous, a 24-hour party.

In reality, it was mostly just restaurants and stores that all seemed to close down around 3:30am.

I arrived on the street for the first time after taking a tuktuk back from the Grand Palace, where we took a quick walk through on the way back to our hostel.

Later that night we returned to the street, ate some bugs from a cart, got dinner, drank some beers, drank some more.

And the next night, I returned with others from my hostel, watched street performers, drank, and drank some more.

And, the next night, I returned with others from my hostel, had some hookah, bought roses from children, drank, and drank some more.

And then we went back to the hostel, and some went to bed and some passed out and some of us decided we were hungry. So we went back and got some dinner at a place that was guaranteed to be open.