Khao San Road

You're on Khao San Road, perhaps the most famous street in Bangkok among travellers. Its name, though, speaks of another era: khao san means "milled rice".

1From rice to backpacks

The street was laid out in 1892, under King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, at the height of the country's drive to modernise. Banglamphu was then a district of traders and craftsmen, and this is where the rice warehouses and shops clustered, rice being Siam's great export. For almost a century it remained a quiet street of local trade.

2The backpacker revolution

From the 1980s, cheap guesthouses began opening for Western travellers drawn by the nearby temples. The trend grew so much that Khao San became a byword for backpacking in Southeast Asia. Alex Garland's novel The Beach, published in 1996, opens in a guesthouse on this very street, and the 1999 film made it even more famous.

By day it's a street of travel agents, shops and cafés; as evening falls it turns into a night market full of music, food stalls and crowds.

However much it changes its skin, it's still a crossroads: tickets are bought here, plans are changed and travellers from half the world cross paths.

3What to look for

• The bilingual signs, proof of a street built around travellers.
• The old two- and three-storey shophouses peeking out behind the billboards.
• Wat Chana Songkhram, to the west, an oasis of calm just steps away.