Bangkok Photo Club: Lumpini Park

Members of the Bangkok Photo Club have been taking photos at Lumpini Park in the centre of the city.

The park is a wonderful place, no two visits are ever the same. It’s very busy between 5am and 7am (I’m told) with people jogging, doing aerobics and taking Tai Chi and other outdoor classes.

But as well as being a good spot to exercise it’s a very popular place for social gatherings. Families meet up at the weekends and various food stalls are kept busy with people buying snacks and drinks to share.

There are two lakes and pedaloes are available for those who enjoy a romantic paddle on the water. The swan-shaped boats are, of course, de rigueur.

Here are a few of my own shots from the park and I’ll post a link to more from the club members on Flickr as they appear.

This is a favourite of mine. It might be difficult to see in this web-sized version but the runner on the left has spotted me and is giving a friendly smile and wave for the camera. In London the best you’d be likely to get is a suspicious look and the worst… well, the police would be quoting anti-terrorism legislation to you within seconds I’m certain.

Nothing manipulated in this shot of swan-head pedaloes. I did ask the attendant to leave them where they were as he was in the process of turning them around to face the same way. I like the heart-shape formed in the space between them. How romantic!

I frequently find myself taking part in exchanges that go almost exactly like this on every occasion:

“Where are you from?”

“England”

“How long will you stay in Bangkok?”

“Oh, well, I live here now”

“Oh, very nice”. Big grin.

“How long will you stay here?”

“I’m not sure, maybe one year.”

“Very good”

“Yes. I like it in Bangkok.”

“Oh, good.”

“May I take your photograph?”

“Oh, yes, of course”.

And this is pretty much how all my chance meetings begin. I’m beginning to replace my English responses with a few Thai words that I’m slowly picking up and that always gets a positive reaction with a slight deviation from the usual script, something like:

“Where are you from?”

“Ang-grìt” (England)

“Ah, you speak Thai?

“Nít nòi” (A tiny bit)

Invariably met with laughter.

And so it was with the subject of the photo above. I was taking a shot of some people walking around the lake and he started the conversation. He comes to the park every morning to read his law books apparently although that looks suspiciously like the cartoon page from a newspaper on his lap.

This woman saw me walking along the path with my camera, waved and smiled and was always going to be a willing subject. The only thing I find is that smiles turn to serious expressions as soon as the camera gets in the way. I’m working on ways to combat this and the best results are often in the second or third shot where I’ve managed to goon around sufficiently for the serious pose to replaced by a grin. However, I quite liked the more serious look on this occasion.

And as for these two, what a pair of characters. I’m pretty sure you could have found them on that very bench at the same time on any day in the past thirty years. They look like creatures of habit. I’m still not entirely convinced about the split-tone black and white version but they are both wearing bright, yellow shirts and it’s a bit distracting. I may return to this one. Indeed, I might go back just to check if they’re still there and ask if they’ll mind being photographed again.

So, there you are, your introduction to the delights of Lumpini Park. More images from this fascinating space are sure to follow.