The Road: The travel ethos in transition

Author’s note: The story below describes Bangkok’s Khao San Road as it was ten years ago, with some editorial updates, and was originally a chapter of a book commissioned by Lonely Planet that never saw the light of day. The book was called A Groove in the Map. Pictures © Darby Sawchuk A LATE AFTERNOON SHOWER plunged Bangkok into pre-evening darkness, lashing the litter-strung, thronging streets and exhaust-fume laden air so that even Khao San Road—the nexus of the…