“Bitch”

Tue, 11 Feb 1997 20:00:00 +0000

the first I heard of the beach was in Bangkok, on the Ko Sahn Road. The
Ko Sahn Road was backpacker land. Almost all of the buildings had been
converted to guest houses, there were long-distance telephone booths with
air-con, the cafes showed brand-new Hollywood films on video, and you
couldn't walk ten feet without passing a bootleg tape stall. The main
function of the street was as a decompression chamber for all those about
to leave Thailand; a halfway house between the East and the West.

I'd landed at Bangkok in the late afternoon, and by the time I got to
Ko Sahn it was dark. My taxi driver winked and told me that at one end of
the street was a police station, so I asked him to drop me off at the
other end. I wasn't planning on a crime, but I wanted to oblige his
conspiratorial charm. Not that it made much difference at which end one
stayed because the police obviously weren't active. I caught the smell of
grass as soon as I got out of the cab, and half the travelers weaving past
me were stoned.

Salon.com > Alex Garland

“Bitch”