First Day of Our Bangkok Trip: Benchakitti, Lumphini and Central World

Hello everyone. We started our day at Benchakitti Park, which is more of a local park rather than a tourist attraction. We had never been here before, but our friends had recommended it. You can take small boats on the lake here. The park is really beautiful and there were almost no visitors. We were lucky that the weather was cloudy because there isn’t much shade under the trees, if it had been sunny, we would have been burned. The best time to visit is in the late afternoon or on a cloudy day. But unfortunately, that’s unpredictable.

The rustling leaves made it feel like we were walking in autumn. As we walked through the park, we found it interesting, but personally, I prefer Lumphini Park. Later we also went there. One advantage of this park is that it offers a great view of the city’s high-rise buildings. We walked around the lake and the park extends further, connecting to the Lumphini side. We saw a sign that said "Beware of Crocodiles". So, they are here too. I guess they don’t bite and the sign is just a warning not to scare people.

Even though the sky was cloudy, it was still hot and humid. The park is really green and beautiful. I found a wonderful path with stunning trees and skyscrapers in the background. The smell of freshly cut grass after the rain was in the air. We were in the middle of the city, yet it still felt like being in nature. You could hear the metro and traffic, but it was still peaceful. This is exactly how parks in big cities should be. There are elevated walkways, known as Skywalks, which seem to connect the parks.

Usually we rush from place to place with a planned schedule, but today was more relaxed. The park is quite large, with different areas, flowers and landscapes. We climbed up to the Skywalk, which wasn’t easy to get down from. There’s a great platform here, perfect for photos. It looks like a designer put a lot of effort into making this space beautiful.

The park is well-maintained, with many workers taking care of it. There’s even a sign indicating a dog-friendly area where people can walk their dogs. As we neared the exit, we passed through the park and continued walking. We could have stayed longer, as there were interesting spots to explore, but we had Lumphini Park on our itinerary, so we moved on.

We followed Google Maps and had about a 1.5 km walk. Along the way, we saw railway tracks. Walking on the Skywalk was great because we had a view of the city from above. This was the real Bangkok: roosters, chickens, modern buildings and two-story houses standing side by side. The electrical wires looked tangled, which made me worry about fire safety. The houses here are clearly old, but everything coexists. I really liked these small houses and wanted to explore the streets.

A staff member checking the passage confirmed that we were heading in the right direction toward Lumphini. Walking on the Skywalk was very practical because the road below was too crowded and crossing the railway tracks would have been difficult. We finally arrived at Lumphini, but the walk took longer than expected, about 1.5 km. It was interesting to see the old neighborhoods. The weather started improving and the sun came out. Lumphini Park is known for its large crocodiles and we were excited to see them. There were small food stalls, so we got some ice cream for ourselves.

There were more tourists here. You could take a boat ride, but the queue was too long. It was free, but we didn’t want to waste time waiting. The other park had been much emptier. We spotted our first crocodile. It was still small. Then, a much bigger one appeared with a long tail. They seemed used to people and moved around comfortably. One was swimming across the lake. Interestingly, I didn’t see any crocodiles on land. They were all in the water.

A crow surprised me by attacking from above. I tried to shield my eyes. I was shocked by the sudden attack and didn’t get any help. I must have gotten too close to its nest. I think I’ll always be afraid of crows from now on.

We returned to our hotel, dropped off our belongings and decided to go to the Thonburi area. Our hotel was called Chocolate Box Mint. We chose it based on our friends’ recommendations. It had a good location and reasonable prices. There was a café at the entrance with a 10% discount for guests. They also had hostel-style rooms. The terrace on the fourth floor offered a nice view of Bangkok’s skyline. Our room was minimalistic but clean. Since we didn’t book early, this was one of the best available options. It was good value for money. We paid 2,500 baht for two nights.

Outside it was cold and I felt chilly on the bus. We arrived at Central World and first went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. It was a chain restaurant famous for its Chinese-style dumplings. After passing through the queue, we were seated at our table. The kitchen was open, so we could watch how everything was prepared.

Our food arrived after 20 minutes. The dumplings were really delicious. They served thinly sliced ginger with them. Each portion had eight dumplings. We tried different sauces: one with chicken and the other with pork. Both had amazing flavors.

After dinner we went somewhere else for dessert. There was a bakery in Paragon Mall. We got pastries that reminded us of the cream-filled bread from our childhood. The cream was light and airy and we really enjoyed it.

It was time to return to our hotel. I’ll share more about our Bangkok trip on my next posts.