The Tiny Lung

Bangkok is a city with 7 million inhabitants, best known for its busy streets, its supernatural traffic jams, its walkways bustling with street vendors, its supermodern skyscrapers and its crazy nightlife. All of which are not clichés. Or at least they are clichés, but nevertheless completely true. Bangkok is a concrete jungle.

When tourists get overwhelmed by the noise, the pollution and the heat, it’s generally time for them to head for a river cruise along the Chao Praya, or to have a taste of Buddhist peacefulness in one of the city’s numerous and beautiful temples. When Thais want to escape, they often head for Lumphini Park.

Named after the Buddha’s birthplace in Nepal, it was the first public park in Thailand, donated by King Rama VI in the 1920s. In a city where there is 0.4 square meters of public parkland per inhabitant (one of the lowest figures in the world, compared for example with London’s 30.4 sqm or Melbourne’s 60 sqm), Lumphini Park is like a tiny lung where everyone goes for a short breath of fresh(er) air.

Lumphini Park is beautiful. Its well-maintained grass areas contrast with the lushness of its tropical trees and flowers. Ornate pavilions are artfully placed along its lanes and by the water. Two large lakes welcome fish, turtles and huge lizards, providing a tropical alternative to “feeding the ducks”.

Benches are galore, and often strategically placed in the shade of trees. They offer the best spots to observe how the park is alive with activities and yet peaceful. Schoolgirls in uniform and tourists paddle their way around the lake in swan or duck-shaped boats. Men of all ages lift weights together in the shaded open-air gym, their shiny arms and torsos contrasting with the general Thai modesty. Couples play chess or look at the surrounding skyline while talking. Teenagers find farangs to speak English and take picture with. At the end of the day, young men jog along the pathways, overcoming old ladies walking swiftly while groups of red-cheeked international school children leave the park with their gym teacher. Young adults play a game of football or trakraw, a popular south-east asian ball game favouring acrobatic moves.

At 6 PM, everything stops. A song in honour of the King booms through the speakers. All stand up in stillness for a few minutes then resume their activities as if nothing had interrupted them in the first place. The fast but peaceful pace of the park starts again, a daily-life manifesto of the Thai sense of balance: healthy habits, sense of etiquette and – above all – sanuk, the Thai way of injecting fun in everyday life.

Julia

Location: Rama IV Rd

How to get there:

• BTS skytrain: Sala Daeng station
• MRT metro: Lumphini or Si Lom station

Opening hours: 4.30 AM to 9 PM