Today marks the beginning of the campaign to "clean up" Khao San Road and "return the footpaths to pedestrians". One of the most popular haunts for travellers, Khao San's appeal has always been its energy — chaotic yet iconic and colourful. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's (BMA) proposed action to systematise the stalls and vendors in the alley have generated various reactions, from dismay to uncertainty, from local business owners.
According to the BMA, some of the new regulations include a guarantee of a 1m-wide space on footpaths for pedestrians, and that the makeshift stalls will be put away every night after the market closes. Another important point the authorities emphasise is that no vendors' carts or tools should be stacked visibly on the road, day or night.
"The government should focus more on something that makes the country better without affecting anyone's livelihood," said a 38-year-old female vendor last week. She sells handmade products from a stall and believes that the authorities should first take care of overcharging tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.
"If the vendors are left with no choice, they may start to resist."
As of now, it is not clear how much the plan will affect vendors, their business or the visual landscape of the street. Often serving as an urban arrival lounge for many backpackers in Southeast Asia, who stay in the area before continuing on their travels, Khao San, as of last week, still depicts a familiar scene. Foreign tourists in flip-flops and seemingly unwashed clothes walking around, having beer in one of the guest houses or searching for the best party. Food carts, pop-up massage stores, unruly T-shirts stalls, roadside dreadlocks hair stylists, loud music from one of the clubs — this is the "exotic" Orient at its most laid-back. Most guest houses and hotels have been upgraded, but it's the stalls that give the place a carnival atmosphere. The sense of controlled madness is an integral part of the area, typifying the best and worst of mass tourism.
After the fiasco of the Koh Tao murders and amid post-coup economic uncertainty, the state of Thai tourism is under the spotlight. As of June, the number of tourists has declined 9% from last year. The world-famous Khao San Road, however, seems to have survived the impact relatively unscathed — at least judging from the number of people on the street as high season approaches. As the plan to spruce up the street is set into motion, the question is whether the new look will be loved or hated by its stakeholders?
Many of the street vendors find the plan too strict — for now, the authorities will get rid of structures that intrude into footpaths and those that were built without a permit. Many are ambivalent about the details of the new policy due to a series of rumours. Some presume that the BMA will completely eradicate the vendors' presence on the footpaths in the near future.
"How do you expect me to make a living after this?" another vendor, a 33-year-old man who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions, said. He has been selling clothes on the footpaths of Khao San for more than 10 years. He believes that the new regulations are a precursor to the end of his street entrepreneurship.
"Is this what the government does when they say they promise to bring happiness back to the people?"
The new initiative has been pushed forward after chief adviser to the Bangkok governor, Wanlop Suwandee, along with police counterparts and business owners on Khao San Road, held a meeting to find a solution to the cramped walkways and overcrowded market stalls in the area.
"There will still be a market," Wanlop said. "But we will have to check for the vendors' level of cooperation before further plans can be initiated concerning the extent of the systematisation."
Former deputy police inspector-general Wichai Sangprapai, who currently serves as the adviser to the Bangkok governor and is one of the core people who initiated the policy, is expecting orderliness in Khao San upon the campaign's initiation.
"I believe the market stalls constitute the popular appeal of Khao San," Wichai said. "But it is terrible that people cannot walk on the footpaths."
The BMA has previously attempted to create some kind of order on Khao San, after it was designated as one of the areas in which street stalls were permitted on the footpaths, following its transformation into a full-fledged tourist destination, according to the adviser of the Khao San Road Business Association, Sanga Ruangwattanakul.
Sanga, who manages many permanent properties in the area, remarked that Thai vendors are usually not co-operative when it comes to their responsibility for public order.
"After the vendors were allowed to do business on the footpaths, sometimes they were not well-behaved," Sagna said, referring to their encroachment on public space. "This consequently affected the decision of the authorities to deal with the problem."
Sanga, however, is planning to ask for another round of meetings with the governor's advisers, in which he will pass on vendors' requests for leniency.
A 43-year-old businessman who owns a building in Khao San said that he expanded his structure onto the footpath when he saw other sellers had done the same. He admitted, however, that the footpaths do feel cramped and untidy.
"If I were greedy, I would encourage all the makeshift stalls to be removed so I would not have to compete with them [since I have my shop]," he said. "But Khao San will not be the same without the tangle of markets on the paths."
Khao San — or "Milled Rice" — Road dates back more than 120 years. Built in 1892 during the reign of King Rama V, the road was a rice trading hub in subsequent decades. In 1982, the year Bangkok threw a grand feast to celebrate its 200th anniversary as Thailand's capital city, Khao San was dusted off as a district to embrace tourists who wanted to experience the charms of Bangkok's "old town".
Due to its proximity to historic landmarks and an upsurge of mass tourism to the affordable Southeast Asia, the district began to see the rise of the community with guest houses, bars, massage parlours and cafes, which sprang up in response to the mass arrival of backpackers. Despite some gentrification over the past decade, mostly from new buildings and nightlife venues, the bustling neighbourhood retains much of its old-school charm, coupled with a sense of disorder that seems to be what many tourists seek. An estimated 4 million tourists stay on Khao San annually.
But an order is an order. No one is quite sure how Khao San will look and feel if the stalls are reorganised — or removed, as some fear. The plan begins today, but it will take at least one to two weeks for regulars to really see the change — or the lack thereof.
Rachel Read, a 24-year-old traveller from New Zealand, was recommended by a friend to stay in Khao San during her holiday. She likes the place because it offers a boisterous environment, one which is completely different from her home country.
"I like Khao San the way it is," she said. "It is the spirit that everyone comes here for."
Khao San Road is packed with tourists both day and night.
