Khao San Road: What's happening on khaosanroad.com!

Radio journalists Tom and Vera Noga were in Thailand recently to prepare a radio documentary about the life and times of Khao San Road. The documentary, to be broadcast on NRW - a Cologne-based station affiliated to Germany's public-funded statewide radio - will be broadcast in 2002 to around 3 million people.

Featuring an interview with www.khaosanroad.com's John@KSR, the documentary will cover Khao San's history and discuss some of the changes that are currently occuring in the area. We're certainly looking forward to a few more hits from Germany!

Master Hypnotist

I arranged to meet Christian Bennett at Dali Bar on Soi Rambutr (next to Khao San Road) to talk about his talents and how he hoped to use them in Thailand. Rather than a stereotypical bespectacled Freudian type swinging a clock I found a 31-year-old from Seattle with long(ish) blond hair, shorts, and a multicoloured bracelet on his wrist. On first impressions, Christian fit nicely into the Khao San Road scene.

A graduate of the American Pacific University, Christian completed the only course in North America that delves into the areas of Hypnotherapy and the Esoteric. Generally when people introduce subjects such as Zen, Shaman Sciences, and magic into a conversation, my thoughts turn to California in the seventies, X-Files, and alien abductions. But this didn't occur with Christian - he is very different. When he brings up these issues you can still talk to him. He is a pragmatic, regular guy.

"Although I have studied a variety of areas my professional focus is hypnotherapy. I am interested in people being all they can be. In the US this usually translates into me doing house calls on Microsoft types who want to develop an edge in business, but I also use hypnotherapy to help heal people. I deal with people with ailments ranging physical illness to metal illnesses such as depression." As a tool for healing, Christian uses hypnotherapy to resolve internal mental, emotional and physical conflicts. "Basically I help resolve conflict by finding the parts in someone that are in opposition and bringing them together. Someone may have desire for money, but may be unable to compromise the loss of freedom that their quest for money will produce. By rationalising these extremes it is possible to bring them together and end internal conflict. The changes that occur are at a neurological level - the neurological structure actually alters neurological blocks. The result is a clearing of neurological pathways for new patterns of behaviour to develop."

Although Christian introduces himself as a hypnotist, hypnosis is only one of an armoury of techniques available to him. "When I deal with business people I often use techniques such as Values Analysis. Sometimes people are stretched in so many directions they lose contact with their real values - what is really important to them. Through Values Analysis I can change what people feel is important. If a guy needs to take better care of his health, I can rearrange his values so that he wakes up the next morning and working out will be his primary objective. It's as simple and as straightforward as that. The difficulty is ensuring balance - there's no point realigning someone's value system if they are going to work 24 hours a day in search of money. Obviously their family and social life will collapse and that's not healthy."

Aside from dealing with people with physical and emotional difficulties, Christian deals with people in education. Through his accelerated learning techniques he is able to transform flunking students into "Grade A" candidates. "Everything you learn," Christian told me, "is dependent on the state you are in. The best learning state is a state of trance - a deeply relaxed state. By teaching people a procedure to reach that deeply relaxed state you can ensure they quickly acquire what they need to know. However, with some people it's not that simple. Very much like a ripple in water, a single event in a person's past can impact their current state in a negative fashion. People suffer from anger, from frustration, and these feelings cause blocks that are difficult to get over. It makes getting into a state of trance virtually impossible, and in this situation a person needs Time Line Therapy. The most amazing thing about Time Line Therapy is that serious improvement can take place in a matter of minutes - it's not something that takes years of therapy."

Coming from the North West of England where people generally either don't have problems, or kill themselves if the do, Christian's claims of a seven-minute solution didn't especially ring true. As a hard-nosed sceptic my first thoughts were to put Christian's claims to the test. Like everyone, there are occasions in my life when I could use greater confidence, and this was the task I set Christian. Clearing the tabletop of beer, coke and cigarettes, Christian set about his trade and stated "We can deal with that here and now." Asking me to put both clenched fists out in front of me, Christian engaged me in Time Line Therapy. "Think of a time when you we sublimely confident, when you were an absolute star." Closing my eyes I did as he asked. While I was doing so he applied pressure to my right knuckle. He then asked me to consider various times in my life when things had been good; when I had done everything right, when I had laughed myself senseless, when I had been careless and free of worry. Each time I followed his instructions he applied pressure to my right knuckle. Christian then changed the mood and focus went onto thinking about times in the past when things hadn't gone so well: times when I had lacked confidence, when things had scared me, etc. As I did this Christian applied pressure to my left knuckle. When he finished he explained there were two distinct states loaded onto my knuckles - positive and negative. "I'm going to bring these two states together" he told me and applied pressure to both knuckles at the same time. The effect was quite dramatic. A physical sensation seared through my body that made it quite difficult for me to breathe. It was quite alarming. I cannot deny that something happened at the neurological level - something I had not expected. The long-term effects have been positive. I have to admit to a general feeling of well being, especially in stressful situations. I'd say Christian's seven-minute solution worked - even on me!

Still recovering from Christian's therapy we filled in some of the gaps in our discussion. "If you were earning $150-$200 an hour in Seattle, why Thailand?" I asked him. "I feel at home in Thailand," he told me, "I feel comfortable here. I am not religious but I have a spiritual leaning towards Buddhism. This is the 5th time I've been to Thailand and in total I guess that means I have been here around a year. I am going to be here longer this time, I am looking for opportunities to work at health resorts in the South of Thailand, and I'm keen to help other travellers. I'm interested in connecting with people who are interested in Hypnosis, in meeting people who want to get the most out their travel experience."

Obviously a man with integrity, money certainly would not seem to be Christian's motive. "If money was the issue, I'd have stayed in Seattle", he told me. Christian wants people to benefit from his roaming practice and so the obvious question of "how much" came to mind. "I understand people are on limited budgets. Right now when I meet people I am asking people to give me what my services are worth to them - that's all." Money well spent I would say…

If you would like to meet with Christian you can contact him at the following email addresses: neurotraveller@onebox.com or master_neuromancer@hotmail.com. Catch him while he's around.

Hambugers courtesy of the
Hard Rock Cafe, Bangkok

Following Khao San Road's debut in a radio documentary, the road now finds itself the subject of academic pursuit! Pictured right are Adriana Tan and Patrick Ong from Singapore. In the 4th year of a Southeast Asian Studies degree at the National University of Singapore, both speak Thai really well and have been in Thailand over the last couple of weeks to gather information for their thesis (anyone who knows the plural of 'thesis', please contact me). While Patrick is writing his thesis on meditation movements in Thailand, Adriana is focusing on good old Khao San Road. Adriana's thesis will cover the history of Khao San Road, changes the street has experienced over the years, it's influence on people's lives (both in economic terms and in terms of meaning systems), and media representation of Khao San Road - from 'The Beach' to 'www.khaosanroad.com'. Adriana has done a lot of research on the subject and appears to know Khao San just as well as anyone we have met! She promises to give us access to what she writes when it's finished in March. Should be worth waiting for…

"I told you we should've turned left!"

A long way from home...

Akha tribeswomen have been seen pacing up and down Khao San Road over the last few days. Dressed in full tribal costume, these ladies have been selling silver jewellry and other silver items. They don't seem to sleep - at least they don't seem to have rooms! They're on KSR all hours!

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