The word khao san itself means milled rice and is an attribution to the historical role of this street in the rice trade. The first business to open on Khao San Road was a small hotel aimed at serving civil servants from the provinces who came to Bangkok on business. The hotel was followed by Sor Thambhakdi, a shop selling monks? accessories. It was followed by four similar businesses, and Khao San became known as a ?religious road?.

Word soon spread about the easy lifestyle and friendliness of the locals. Friends told friends, and before long, the owner of the house started to charge 20 baht for food and lodging. The first commercial guesthouse, called Bonny, opened with six small bedrooms.

Today, there?s a lot more than six small bedrooms on offer: in the span of just a couple of blocks, there are bars, food stalls, restaurants, convenience stores, pharmacies, Internet cafés, money changing booths, ATMs, shoe stores, massage parlors, tailors, travel agencies, laundry, boxing gyms, optometrists, endless warrens of suspiciously discounted designer clothes and, oh, rooms for the night.

Get in
Khao San Road is fairly easy to get to from anywhere in Bangkok. Taxis, buses, and river ferry are your main options. While the metro and the skytrain are convenient ways of getting to many places in Bangkok, there is unfortunately no train (yet) that will take you near Khao San Road (or anywhere else on Rattanakosin Island, for that matter).

By taxi
Even the metered taxis will try to charge you a flat rate of about 200-300 baht to take you to Khao San Road, rather than use the meter (which would mean no more than an 80 baht fare from the Silom district). The drivers will claim that Khao San Road is ?too far away? for the meter, but that?s not true; the fact is, they can get away with overcharging tourists, and if you don?t take it, the next schmuck down the street will. You can refuse to pay that amount and try to find an honest taxi, or try to haggle (which may be just as difficult). There is certainly no shortage of taxi drivers anywhere in Bangkok. As a general rule, older drivers tend to be more amenable to the meters, while the younger ones tend to gun for big fares from tourists.

If for some reason there aren?t many taxis around, one trick that appears to work is telling the driver to take you to a location near Khao San Road, such as Tanao Road. If you don?t mind a short walk, memorize a few landmarks in the Banglamphu area and see if the driver will take you there using the meter and then hike the rest of the way to the road.

The majority of taxi drivers are reasonably honest. If they seek to ?quote? a fare, just smile and point at the meter. If they still don?t want to use the meter, just hail another taxi. As a general rule, avoid the parked taxis (dishonest drivers prefer to wait for gullible tourists) and hail a moving taxi (red light on dash board indicates available). The majority of taxis are new (less than two years old), and its best to avoid the older taxis as their air-conditioners function poorly, and these drivers tend to be less reliable.
By bus
From Moh Chit (the Northern Bus Terminal), catch bus 3 which will drop you right on Khao San Road. 7 baht, approx. 30 minutes.

From Ekamai (the Eastern Bus Terminal), catch bus number 2 (non-ac, 7 baht) which will stop at the Ratchdamnoen Klang road where a short walk across the road will take you to Khao San Road.