Get me to Lumpini Park, Bangkok:

Situated slap bang in the middle of the Bangkok business district, Lumpini Park is to Bangkok what Central Park is to New York – a place for tourists, office workers and residents to seek a botanical break from the concrete jungle and endless traffic jams.

At a mere 140 acres (57ha), Bangkok’s main city park is a little more than one-third of the size of the Manhattan reserve, but welcomes more than nine million people a year.

Originally the site for a planned goods and resources fair by King Rama IV to help lift the economy out of a recession, the Lumpini Park did not become public property until the reign of King Rama VI. During World War II the Japanese Army used Lumpini Park as a bivouac, before it was returned to public use as per the royal decree of King Rama VI.

At the main Rama IV and Ratchadamri Roads entrance, a massive statue of King Rama VI stands towering over the park.

In addition to providing a leafy and shady area for city workers and residents, the park houses a number of community groups, a food center and a lake with pedal-boats and rowboats for rent.

Dragons in Lumpini Park, Bangkok:
While visitors to city parks in many countries find the peaceful and tranquil surroundings and native flora and fauna a relaxing intrusion, at Lumpini Park visitors can relax, while also coming face to face with fierce looking carnivorous lizards.

A vast contrast to the ducks and swans that many visitors are used to, Lumpini Park is home to between 100 and 200 water monitors (Varanus salvator), a distant relative of the famed Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis) found in Indonesia.

Water monitors can grow up to 10 feet (3m) in length and weigh more than 198 pounds (90kg), and just like their Indonesian relatives, the Lumpini Park water monitors harbor a toxin-producing bacteria in their saliva that can quickly cause infection and sepsis, killing their intended prey shortly after being bitten.

Surviving on a diet of lizards, fish, frogs, rodents, birds, crabs, and snakes, the giant lizards spend their days in Bangkok swimming in the Lumpini Park ponds, or ambling across the lawns.

While tourists find the site of the lumbering reptiles somewhat intimidating, Bangokians are used to the sight and appear to pay the creatures little attention. Despite this, tourists would be unwise to antagonize the creatures, or treat them too lightly, as their tails, claws, and jaws are all devastating weapons.

Get Me To travel tip:
Buying a pound or two of pork, chicken or fish on the way to Lumpini Park from a local fresh market will be the local equivalent of buying bread to feed to ducks back home, and ensure some outstanding holiday photos.


How to get to Lumpini Park in Bangkok:
BTS Skytrain to Saladaeng Station, or MRT subway to Lumpini Station.
Bus routes 4,13, 22, 45, 47, 141.
Lumpini Park is open daily between 5am and 8pm, and best of all, entry is free.