Kaosan Road

It is just past midnight - my 26th anniversary just ended. I am back in Bangkok on Kaosan road. It is such an odd scene. I guess I can't say it is not Thailand, for at some level it is the essence of Thailand - tourism gone wild, alcohol, sex, international, and loud music everywhere. It is primarily populated with young back packers - tanned, long hair, few clothes, pierced and tattooed. Not exactly my scene. 25 years ago I didn't fit in either, though there is something attractive about this subculture, for it is vibrant.
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The streets of Kaosan Road area stay busy all night long. The taxis roam slowly down the streets like sharks. Every once in a while one gets approached by prostitutes, or rickshaw or cab drivers offering to take you to "sex massage." Some of the most beautiful Thai "girls" are actually men - tall, slender and a little bit too much make up. There are also Thais rolling their food carts of dried squid, fruit and fruit juices, or phad thai. And there are the shorter, more ornately dressed hill tribe women with their frog-croaking instruments, or older Western men arm in arm with their Thai "girl friends." It is quite a scene.

On another note, I found my favorite squid restaurant, hidden on a small street at the end of an alley way. It is funny how my memory, which works so poorly, seems to always remember the way to my favorite food shops around the world.