Sunday, July 18, 2010

Suan Luang King Rama IX Royal Park, Bangkok


In my blog post My Top 5 Green Spots in Bangkok, I briefly mentioned Suan Luang King Rama IX Royal Park, and felt it deserved a fuller blog post of its own. It rarely gets a mention in the better known guide books, whether that is because it is a bit outside the tourist area of Bangkok, or because it is not considered a tourist attraction, I do not know. Certainly it is a rather Thai-oriented place, but there is absolutely no reason why tourists or resident expats should not go there. I enjoyed my visit there, despite visiting on a brutally hot day in late March.

The park is divided into 6 main sections:
i) Homage to His Majesty
In my earlier post I referred to this section as the Commemoration Hall, which is technically incorrect as the Commemoration Hall is only the main structural edifice of the area referred to as ‘Homage to His Majesty’. The Commemoration Hall is a large nine-sided structure which is home to an exhibition detailing the life and projects of the King, such as his various economic and social infrastructure projects, and touching on such things as his musical and photographic prowess. Surrounding gardens also form part of this area.
ii) The Sanan Rasdra
This is a large open area ( a field really) where concerts, performances, sporting events and recreational activities are held. 


iii) The Botanical Garden
This is a really pleasant aspect of the park. There are numerous little areas representing gardens and flora from different areas of the world, including a very pleasant recreation of a British garden which provided a shady retreat from the steamy heat. We also came across a greenhouse housing spectacular looking Cacti plants, but it was so hot I could only last about two minutes there.

iv)   Rommaniya Garden
This is the section dedicated to Thailand’s regions and is landscaped accordingly, to reflect the mountains, waterfalls, forests and other landscapes of Thailand. Native plants  showcase the diversity of Thailand flora.

v) The Water Garden
The Water Garden is a charmingly lush area of shallow canals and semi forest abundant with aquatic plants, fish, ducks and other birds. 


vi) The Reservoir
This is an artificial lake also known as  Prapang Kaew Keb Nam. It serves more than a recreational purpose as it is also designed as a catchment area to hold water back before releasing it into the Chao  Phraya river. This helps to lessen the flood risks in Bangkok’s eastern suburbs. I did not investigate the recreational facilities on the lake when I was there, but, as far as I know, small boats and paddle boats can be rented.
Tip: I went on a weekday morning when the park was very quiet. For some that is ideal, but on my next visit I will go on the weekend in the late afternoon to catch more of the atmosphere of Thai families enjoying a day out and to experience the park as dusk falls.

Location: Sukhumvit Road 103 (Udomsuk) Nongbon Pravej, Bangkok, 10260.
To get there by public transport I would suggest a taxi, or, BTS to On Nut and a taxi from there. Buses do run there, but as I have conflicting information over specific bus routes, I will not post that info.
Have a good time there......

Thai Connoisseur

9 comments:

  1. Well I tryed one time already to comment will try again , loved the fact that you went out of your way to bring us this beautiful park and to take the great pictures of a real Thai park , not so much a tourist attraction as just a place to go and relax and enjoy good company with a picnic or just a great place to sit and relax . thanks again . Malcolm

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  2. Thanks Malcolm, appreciate the nice comment. It really is a pleasant spot and I understand is especially popular on Royal occasions such as Royal birthdays when festive events will be held there.

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  3. Peter, have you been to the park that runs alongside JJ's?

    The top end is across the street from PTT (Thai oil company - original offices). The bottom end comes out by the Children's Discovery Centre, right across the street from JJ Market. At several points along the way, you can cross the road into JJ Park on the left, or continue on to the sculpted side of the park. JJ's is mostly in the sun before 9am, but this park is beautifully manicured and shady. And it's pretty much Thai.

    PS: Thank you for adding me to your sidebar. Question - why does my link go to a photo instead of posts? Is it a blogger.com glitch? (it's the second time I've seen this)

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  4. Catherine, are you talking about Chatuchak Park, or is there another park in the vicinity? I will explore the area a bit better next time I am there.

    Re the link on my sidebar. When I click on it I get taken straight to your homepage showing the most recent post (right now Andrew Biggs interview). However there is an anomaly somewhere in that my sidebar refers to your last post as being 3 months ago when clearly it was not. I will play around with it when I get home, maybe remove it and re-insert it and see if that does the trick!

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  5. Peter, there are several parks side by side with JJ park. The RR park is at the top of the park area I mentioned, by PTT (you'll see old trains on the grounds). It turns into another park. If you are walking along the sidewalk of the park closer to JJ Market, you might mistake it for a private residence. I'll see about getting more information for you this weekend.

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  6. Thanks Catherine. Someone else mentioned to me there were two parks there. I guess I had always assumed the green spaces round there were part and parcel of the same park.

    Ok, I removed the link to your website, re-copied your homepage URL and re-added to my sidebar. I see what the problem is. My sidebar actually gives me two links for your blog. The first is the name of your website. Click on that and you will be taken to your homepage. Underneath your website name is a second link called ugly-mugg. Sure enough that links to a photo you posted, titled ugly-mugg.jpg. I presume it was a photo you posted 3 months ago and why it would appear from my blogroll that your last post was 3 months ago. I have no idea how to fix this. Whether this is a Blogger glitch or somehow this photo has made a glitch in your homepage url I cannot say. Maybe check if the other blogger site you referred to also links to the same photo. In any event hopefully people will click on the main link on the blog roll and not the secondary ugly-mugg link as you did.

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  7. Thanks for trying Peter. There are several blogger.com sites that are giving the same result. Goodness knows why they all have ugly-mug as a preference (I'm laughing now, but the regular appearance was disconcerting earlier :-D

    To show you just how extensive the parks are, here's a map: womenlearnthai.com/downloads/bkk-park-north.jpg

    But there is no road separating RR from QS. They flow together. And if you don't know how to cross into the quiet part of QS, you'll miss it totally.

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  8. Thanks for the map Catherine. Google map was not clear at all. That looks like Nancy Chandler map, a copy of which I have and should have probably looked at first :-)

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  9. It is indeed a Nancy Chandler map. I was worried about the copyright but... oh well :-D

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