Khao San Rd. is an assault on your senses. Walking down the road dodging people, taxis, scooters and tuk-tuks, you first notice the sights. Colorful neon signs are attached to the sides of each building, jutting over the street in a canopy of marketing. Bars, hotels, laundry, internet, tattoo- you name it, you can get it here. The sounds: bars blaring funky dance beats as the patrons sit by the road on plastic stools and drink bottles of Chang beer or sip from straws plonked in a communal bucket of booze. There are tables by the side of the road selling copied CD’s of all types of music. Set up under umbrellas, they blare samples of songs to entice you into taking a look at their selection. People take over the road late at night, and scooters blare their horns to push their way through the milling crowd. The smells can be amazing: rice steaming, meat grilling. The smells can also be less than pleasurable: urine, vomit, “Asia smell”. The streets are lined with all sorts of things for you to taste: exotic fruits packed in a cart of ice, pad thai noodles frying on a hotplate, even corn on the cob brushed with butter. And the feeling of Khao San Road at night- it’s pumping with energy. People of all walks of life merge here to party or relax. It’s a crossroads of excited people that have just arrived and people on their way out, having their last hurrah. It’s totally buzzing and completely chilled out all at the same time. It’s like no other place I’ve ever been.