Day Trip to Phra Pradang

The university I used to work for has a 16 story building in the middle of campus. It's the tallest building within several blocks, so the view from the top floor is great. Very often, I'd take a thrill-ride on the glass elevator to the top, just for the view.

The glass elevator faces the river and Bangkok's port, which is located a few blocks from the school. On the other side of the river, however, was a huge green area with no tall buildings. From my view, it was an untouched garden paradise of palm and banana trees. I often wanted to go visit, but I never really knew how to get there, or what there would be to see.

This week, that all changed. Through this website, I met Stephen Cysewski , who is originally from Alaska but is spending his sabbatical in Thailand. He lives in that amazing green space in the middle of Bangkok, with his Thai wife, Jit.

I found out through Stephen that the green space is called Phra Pradang. To get there, he recommended taking the river ferry near Wat Klong Toei, next to the port. I was supposed to go visit their home in Phra Pradang today (Thursday), and so to prepare, I rode my motorcycle over to the Wat on Tuesday just to check out the area a couple of days early.

I found the wat easily, snapped a few photographs around the area, then got back on my motorcycle to go home. On the way out I noticed a bearded, grey-haired farang guy an his Thai wife approaching.... Stephen and Jit! Their afternoon was free, as was mine, so I joined them on the ferry ride and spent the next 6 hours or so exploring Phra Pradang.

Apparently, there are quite a few people who live in this area, but they are mostly Mon people. One of the Thai kings gave this area to the Mon people (along with Ko Kret north of Bangkok) as a reward for helping fight the Burmese.

There is a wonderful, small park and a few Thai temples. But the thing that struck me most about Phra Pradang is just how quiet and peaceful it is. And along with the quiet and the green comes all of the wildlife that can be seen here -- birds, flowers, and big monitor lizards are all very common. And to think that chaotic, crowded, cement-filled, traffic-bound Bangkok is a short ferry ride across the river!

Luckily I had my camera with me and I took tons of pictures. Here are some of the best ones that sum up the uniqueness of this interesting part of Bangkok.

A young boy takes a break from football at the school at Wat Klong Toei	This is the boat we took to get to Phra Pradang (5 baht)
Jit and Stephen walk along one of the raised concrete sidewalks.	Mangos are shaken out of the tree with one long stick and scooped up with what looks like a homemade lacrosse-stick
A slow, quiet life with Bangkok skyscrapers in the background.	The scenic Suan Glang
I have seen these flowers dok rak ("love flower") in garlands, but I have never seen them growing wild.	Some of the touring with Stephen was done on the back of ONE motorcycle.
Buying fruit from a street vendor. I'd bet the fruit was very local, very fresh.	Here we are navigating the raised concrete paths on the motorcycle. And yes, that's a 90 degree turn ahead.