New York has Central Park, London has Hyde Park and Bangkok has Lumpini Park.

Lumpini Park in Central Bangkok can be found along side Wireless road and Rama 4 Road. You can enter from various sides but the main entrance is on the corner of Rama 4 where it intersects with Silom road. If you get there by underground, you can exit the station on the same side as the park ( see image below )

As public parks go this is not too bad as it is well kept and clean and has many places where you can go to relax with a book or MP3 player and just watch the world go by and as with most parks, there is a fairly large lake where you can hire a paddle boat should you fancy it.


The morning sees Bangkok joggers, cyclists and Thai Chi practitioners going about their morning exercises with the rest of the day's heat set aside for more mundane activities such as reading, sleeping or just having a picnic.

Lumpini Park is a nice and safe place to visit if you want to escape your home and the shopping malls. The only issue is the weather as it can get very hot and so hanging around outside, even under the shade of a tree, might become uncomfortable.

There are public conveniences scattered around the park but you might be expected to pay 1 Baht or so to use the facility. If using the toilets at night or when it's dark, make sure you go with a friend just to be safe.

One interesting aspect of Lumpini Park is the large lizard(s) that can be found in the waterways at the top of the park, running along Rama 4 road.

The image above shows a large lizard which seemed to be about 5 feet long from head to tip of tail. It doesn't look dangerous and kids can be seen throwing it food and so it can't be poisonous, but don't take our word for it. Go and have a look by all means but we do not know what it is and therefore can't vouch for its safety. Please be careful just in case.

Now a park is a park and there's not much to tell you about it other than it seems to get more interesting in the early evening, and so if you want to enjoy the coolness of the early evening breeze and sit back and do some people watching, then 5.30 - 6.30 at Lumpini Park in Bangkok is a good place to start. From there you can go to Lumpini Night Bazaar

We mentioned Tagraw earlier and below are just two pictures that we took from some locals playing in Lumpini Park.


Tagraw is a sport which is similar to volley ball except it's played with a smaller, baseball sized, whicker ball that is controlled by the head, chest and feet.
Each team is made up of four players and the serving team has to serve the ball by having one of the team players throw the ball into the air so that another team member can leap up and kick the ball into the opposing team's half.
The other team has to defend by keeping the ball in the air before returning it in a similar fashion. Scoring is the same as volley ball.

It's a very interesting game to watch as the athletic skills of the players can be amazing, and if they know there is an audience, the flambouyancy of their play increases. To get to see a game, enter Lumpini Park via the main entrance ( read top paragraphs ) and once you've gone through the main gates, turn right. keep walking and on yor right, you'll come across what looks like a tennis court or basket ball court. There is no guaranteeing a game will be going on, but it is quite likely.

All photographs are the property of Bangkok Residents and no unauthorised publishing or copying is permitted.

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