In Bangkok I have normally stayed in the vicinity of Khao San Road, where backpackers by the thousands congregate in hotels and restaurants. Because of all its glitz and commercialism, and because of its foreign hordes, some speak disparagingly about the place. But I have yet to tire of a neighborhood where one can walk up and down a street and see people from literally scores of countries all in one spot. There aren’t many places quite like Khao San.
One of Khao San’s beauties is that, if one wants to get away from the throngs (and one probably will), a five-minute walk will accomplish this. Some seek refuge in Wat Chana Songhkram, the Buddhist temple complex at one end of the road. Here, while barefoot and sitting on the floor as the ear takes in the monks’ evening chant, the stress of urban crowds and smog dissipates.
But perhaps my favorite respite is Santichaiprakan Park. Located beside the Chao Phraya River, here you can slurp yogurt at dawn as Thais, more industrious than you at this hour, do aerobics (the yogurt comes from a nearby 7-Eleven). And then in the afternoon when school lets out, students come to the park to do homework or just hangout. A modest handful of foreigners are scattered about too, their noses in books, their cameras pointed at river barges, or their bodies stretched out in the grass and their eyes closed. It’s a wonderful location to people watch.
The photo above was taken one afternoon in the park and shows a child who took great joy in simply running back and forth in front of the water fountains. While he certainly wasn’t thinking of this line from Kathleen Norris’ book Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, it’s not a bad one for us adults to ponder:
There is a vast difference between blindly running away from old ‘nothings,’ and running with mature awareness toward something new.
