Thai Song Greet Hotel 1980 photo

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Source: Bruce Comstock

Long before Khao San Road, before the Malaysia Hotel, the Thai Song Greet was the original backpacker's hotel. It's reputation spread by word of mouth among travellers when there was still no Lonely Planet Guide to Thailand, and by the time the first edition of that guide was published in 1982, the TSG was already gone.

A 1966 New York Times article referred to its worldwide reputation among young "beatnik" travellers. One of the first guidebooks catering to "backpackers", 1974's Asia on the Cheap called it "one of the most popular hotels for shoestring sojourners", but also "pretty rowdy and grubby". From these early days of the hippie trail in the 1960s up until it's demise in late 1980, backpackers made this Chinese hotel near the train station their home. Back then a room with a double bed cost 30 baht. The shared toilet and shower were down the hall, one at each end.

The restaurant downstairs was a meeting point for travellers. The beers were in a refrigerator and you had to help yourself. The bottles were not taken away until it was time to pay and the bill was calculated by the number of empty bottles on the table. The cook sat to one side of the entrance. In the sixties he was a fat man with a huge scar across his torso, known as "Charlie", or more unkindly as "Gruesome". After a heart attack in 1970 he was replaced by another cook with a large goiter on his neck, possibly also know as "Charlie" or "Gruesome". By all accounts, both were excellent cooks.

Though the Thai Song Greet Hotel is long gone, there are still a few Chinese hotels of the same style in the train station area, such as the Sri Hualampong. However, the backpackers have moved on to cleaner and more comfortable digs and the Thai Song Greet will forever remain one of a kind.


Location of TSG 2006


Location of TSG 2006


The Entrance

Source: unknown

The Restaurant

Source: Bruce Comstock


Business Card 1980

Source: Bruce Comstock