With just a couple of days left in Bangkok, we decided to just chillax. Both last year and this year, we visited Benchakitti Park. It’s such an amazing green space that we decided to visit the other side of the park for our last outing in the city, Benchakitti Forest Park.
Benchakitti is divided into two parks: public park and forest park. The public park, which includes a dog park, is a lovely spot for locals and visitors to relax and exercise, and features numerous pathways, ponds, a large lake with fountains, and the Phra Buddha Wisuthimongkol Meditation Statue. The forest park is used for relaxation and exercise too but also serves a greater purpose: it acts as a set of lungs and a water bank for Bangkok to offset pollution and flooding.
The forest park is the newest expansion of Benchakitti, completed in 2020. The former tobacco farm is more than three times the size of the public park and is filled with strategically planted trees, ground plants, flowers, aquatic plants, and lichens. (I found it really interesting that they specifically use lichens to gauge the air pollution in Bangkok. Different species of lichens react differently to the levels of air pollution so they can read the levels by observing how the lichen are doing.) Benchakitti also has numerous ponds and even rice terraces! They’ve carefully designed this agroforestry garden so that agricultural activities don’t harm the forest. There’s also a museum, sports complex, amphitheater, several bathrooms and at least one free contactless drinking water machine. Well-maintained trails and bike and running paths snake through the park or you can get a better view of it all by taking the Skywalk.
I had a great walk on the Skywalk, taking photos along the way and reading the signage explaining the design of the forest park. We spent a good two or three hours in the park, then briefly visited a grocery store just off Sukhumvit Road before heading back to the hotel. I went to the pool and had another three chili Som Tam with a couple of beers while Wind packed up in the room. Later, we had a last dinner at the Club and then hit the sack early because our alarms were set for 3am…
