After a lot of thought and a lot of penny-pinching, I have finally started looking for a condo to purchase in Bangkok. Owning the place where I live instead of renting has always been a dream of mine, but Bangkok is the first place I've lived where I think I can actually afford to buy something.
So today I went to a real estate agent near Phrom Phong to see what is available. He mentioned a few places I should check out, one of which was on Sukumvit Soi 10. "The soi is only about 500 meters long, and it ends at the Queen Sirikit Park," he told me. "And there's a very nice bike trail from that park over to Lumpinee Park."
A bike path between the two parks? It would have to be several kilometers long and cross over (or under?) the 10 lane tollway at some point. I found it hard to believe that someone had actually thought of connecting the two parks, let alone actually building a path. Needless to say, I didn't believe him.
It was another cool day today (the weather in Bangkok has been wonderfully temperate lately) so I decided to walk to see this unbeliveable bike trail. Sure enough, at the end of Sukumvit Soi 10 was the Queen Sirikit Park, and to my amazement, there was a walkway wide enough to drive on, elevated above an even wider canal in the direction of Lumpinee.
An hour or so later, I had followed this walkway down the canal, over the 10-lane tollway, along the rooftops of wall-to-wall wooden houses around Soi Ruam Rudee, and was deposited exactly at the northeast corner of Lumpinee Park. I was absolutely amazed.
I continued on through the park to the opposite corner at Rama 4 and Silom. What a hike -- from Emporium to Silom. If you have a afternoon off sometime, I recommend the park-to-park city hike. Better get it done before it gets hot, though!
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