Monday, October 16, 2006
Lumpini Park and the Night Bazaar
Oct 15
Today we went to Mass at the Assumption Cathedral. We have gotten pretty good at getting there so we can actually make it from apt to cathedral in about 30 min. The first time it probably took us 1.5 hrs. After mass we had lunch and came back to the apartment for a swim. It was hot today and the pool felt great. (It is going to be tough to give up the pool.)
This afternoon and evening we went to Lumpini Park and the Bangkok Night Bazaar. Lumpini park is named after the birth place of the Buddha and is one of the few really large green spaces in Bangkok. At the entrance to the park is a statue of Rama V. He is considered by many to be the greatest King of Siam and credited with initiating the "westernization" of Thai culture. Lumpini is a large park with a nice manmade lake in the middle. The park was filled with people exercising, picnicking and generally hanging out. The exercise classes are fun to watch. They play funny music (jingle bells) and do aerobic routines. Quite the spectacle, but everyone was having fun.
Nick and I rode a paddle boat around the lake and had a great time. The park offers great views of the skyline, but the highlight were these large Monitor Lizards that were bout four feet long. They were swimming around the water and climbing up on the banks. You could paddle right up to them. Very cool. During the paddle, one of my colleagues from BIOTEC called – yes I have a cell phone. Her Mac computer had just crashed and I had to talk her through booting it back up.
We really enjoyed Lumpini Park. Excellent place and we will visit again. Next to Lumpini is the Bangkok Night Bazaar. It is smaller, tamer and less crowded version of the big weekend market, Chakuchak Market. At the Night Bazaar they have the “Rue de Paris” Ferris Wheel. As its name implies, it is from Paris and is traveling around the world. The ride was fun. I had not been on a Ferris Wheel in years and it provided a good view of the city. They also had a log ride, which was a blast as well. The kids really enjoyed the rides and it set a good tone for the evening.
At the night bazaar there is a large food court. They way these work is that there is a coupon booth. You buy a certain amount of coupons – say the equivalent of $20 – and then you walk around to the different booths and exchange coupons for whatever you want to eat. Why coupons and not direct cash? I don’t know. The food court is centered around a beer garden so you sit eat your food and drink beer. Not bad. At one end of the beer garden is a stage and there were a number of Thai rock acts performing.
Thai rock – like a lot of rock music in Asia - is very pop oriented and theatrical. Imagine Spinal Tap meets Abba. It’s fun to watch but I am not rushing out to by any CDs.
The Night Bazaar itself is fairly predictable but not bad. It was not too crowded which is a welcomed relief as compared to other markets. They had some nice stuff and a lot of junk, but we did pick up a set of nice place mats for the dinner table. Ah the creature comforts of domesticated life.
A very good day. We look forward to visiting Lumpini Park again. -- Joey
Today we went to Mass at the Assumption Cathedral. We have gotten pretty good at getting there so we can actually make it from apt to cathedral in about 30 min. The first time it probably took us 1.5 hrs. After mass we had lunch and came back to the apartment for a swim. It was hot today and the pool felt great. (It is going to be tough to give up the pool.)
This afternoon and evening we went to Lumpini Park and the Bangkok Night Bazaar. Lumpini park is named after the birth place of the Buddha and is one of the few really large green spaces in Bangkok. At the entrance to the park is a statue of Rama V. He is considered by many to be the greatest King of Siam and credited with initiating the "westernization" of Thai culture. Lumpini is a large park with a nice manmade lake in the middle. The park was filled with people exercising, picnicking and generally hanging out. The exercise classes are fun to watch. They play funny music (jingle bells) and do aerobic routines. Quite the spectacle, but everyone was having fun.
Nick and I rode a paddle boat around the lake and had a great time. The park offers great views of the skyline, but the highlight were these large Monitor Lizards that were bout four feet long. They were swimming around the water and climbing up on the banks. You could paddle right up to them. Very cool. During the paddle, one of my colleagues from BIOTEC called – yes I have a cell phone. Her Mac computer had just crashed and I had to talk her through booting it back up.
We really enjoyed Lumpini Park. Excellent place and we will visit again. Next to Lumpini is the Bangkok Night Bazaar. It is smaller, tamer and less crowded version of the big weekend market, Chakuchak Market. At the Night Bazaar they have the “Rue de Paris” Ferris Wheel. As its name implies, it is from Paris and is traveling around the world. The ride was fun. I had not been on a Ferris Wheel in years and it provided a good view of the city. They also had a log ride, which was a blast as well. The kids really enjoyed the rides and it set a good tone for the evening.At the night bazaar there is a large food court. They way these work is that there is a coupon booth. You buy a certain amount of coupons – say the equivalent of $20 – and then you walk around to the different booths and exchange coupons for whatever you want to eat. Why coupons and not direct cash? I don’t know. The food court is centered around a beer garden so you sit eat your food and drink beer. Not bad. At one end of the beer garden is a stage and there were a number of Thai rock acts performing.
Thai rock – like a lot of rock music in Asia - is very pop oriented and theatrical. Imagine Spinal Tap meets Abba. It’s fun to watch but I am not rushing out to by any CDs.The Night Bazaar itself is fairly predictable but not bad. It was not too crowded which is a welcomed relief as compared to other markets. They had some nice stuff and a lot of junk, but we did pick up a set of nice place mats for the dinner table. Ah the creature comforts of domesticated life.
A very good day. We look forward to visiting Lumpini Park again. -- Joey
# posted by Joe Spatafora @ 9:41 AM 
