Khao San Road is a popular tourist area in the city, and it is close to the location of the worst violence on Saturday, when more than 20 people died, and hundreds injured.

VOA: standard.2010.04.12

Thus far, Travelreads has highlighted some fantastic travel stories, including Michael Lewis's celebrated Vanity Fair report about Iceland during the financial crisis and Susan Orlean's classic New Yorker article on the backpackers who haunt Bangkok's Khao San Road.

BBC: Fantastic and free travel stories

Bangkok jeweler Acharavadee Wongsakon, for instance, on June 30 led a procession of several hundred protesters through the city's famous Chatuchak weekend market and the Khao San Road backpacker district to persuade Thais and foreign tourists to show more respect.

WSJ: In Thailand Today, Teen Monks Express the Spirit to a Rock Beat

Sadly, most visitors to the city experience only a tiny section of the ferry route, shuttling between Saphan Taksin pier in the south and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha or Khao San Road in the north (there are piers close to both).

BBC: Take the boat out of Bangkok