URBAN HIKING IN BANGKOK AIN’T A BAD IDEA AFTER ALL
Have you ever been in a situation like this? You’re at a BTS station, and as you approach the turnstile to catch your train, you realise there is not enough credit for the ride on your Rabbit card. The queues at the ticket booths are too long and you hate waiting.
I have no shame admitting that this is a routine part of my life. But when it happened again a couple of weeks ago, instead of getting down the station and climbing back up to the other side where the booths are less busy, I told myself: “What the heck, you just walk to work today then.”
I was at the Victory Monument station and my office at the Bangkok Post Building is in Klong Toey. According to Google Maps, the estimated distance is 7.9km and would take an hour and 40 minutes to walk. With the summer heat, I knew it wasn’t going to be a leisurely stroll. But I was not crazy enough to argue with myself, so even before I put the top-up card properly back in the purse, I was already running down the stairs towards the street.
Instead of taking the roads suggested by the online map, I followed my own route, which was a bit shorter and easier to walk, avoiding the sun and traffic fumes as much as possible. I wasn’t expecting to reach the destination faster than Google’s calculated time, though, since I know
I might be stopping many times along the way.
And that was just the case. After the first or second minute of my urban hiking, I veered off Phaya Thai Road into the Century Mall to use its restroom, so I wouldn’t have to worry about answering nature’s call during the rest of the long walk. I exited the building via a side door which leads to Soi Rang
Nam. Along the lane, there were lots of tempting street food vendors and restaurants. I was glad to see some of the older eateries I used to visit were still doing good business. Among the surprise finds for me was the back gate of Sri Ayudhaya
School. I never knew that this famous high school extends from its namesake road (spelled the same in Thai but differently as Si Ayutthaya in English) all the way to Soi Rang Nam.
After emerging out of the soi, I took Ratchaprarop Road towards Pratunam Market, passing Indra Square, a shopping area which three decades ago was in vogue among trendy Bangkokians. Too bad I didn’t have time to drop by and find out what the place is like these days.
From Pratunam, I crossed Phetchaburi Road and continued to the Ratchaprasong shopping district. There, I got to witness what I had heard about but, despite being a resident of the city, had never seen with my own eyes: the new elevated walkway that connects Platinum Fashion Mall with nearby shopping centres like CentralWorld, Big C and Gaysorn Village. It was a bit tricky trying to find where it begins on the Platinum side, but a shop vendor kindly showed me how to find it.
As already mentioned, the walkway extends to Gaysorn Plaza. There, I made my way through the air-conditioned building, a brief but delightful break from the hot air outside, to another, older elevated walkway which runs beneath the Sukhumvit line of the BTS. I got down that walkway at Chit Lom.
To cut a long story short, I then walked along Lang Suan Road, cut through Lumpini Park to the intersection where Witthayu and Sathon roads meet Rama IV, and continued to Klong Toey. I stopped for a plate of pad Thai before finally resuming to the office.
Well, it turned out I’d made a good decision. The walk gave me a chance to update myself on once-familiar areas and gave me ideas for new stories to write. After that day, I did a couple similar excursions on different routes. Nope, that wasn’t because I couldn’t pay for the Skytrain — not every time. Sometimes, I genuinely felt like walking.
Instead of taking the roads suggested by Google Maps, I followed my own route