Bangkok's Green Lung

[kokopelli]

Here is an article in the New York Times titled:

Escaping to ‘Bangkok’s Green Lung’

Falling coconuts, papaya groves, Buddhist temples, nine-foot-long pythons and miles of bike-friendly elevated sidewalks snaking through the jungle:  Welcome to Bang Krachao, a smog-free, government-protected oasis of green that the mighty Chao Phraya River wraps around.

 

Has anyone been there and done that? Sounds very interesting.  Below is link to the article.

 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/travel/escaping-to-bangkoks-green-lung.html?ref=todayspaper

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest fountainhall]

It's not actually an island. It's a peninsula that is almost an island ringed by the Chao Phrya River - quite close to Rama 4 and the bottom part of Ratchadapisek. I have not visited, but can see it from my apartment, and was just across from it when I went to the Klong Toei Port Authority to get a yellow fever shot for my South America trip.

 

It's a huge area. I had no idea there was anything on it nor that people were allowed there.

[ChristianPFC]

I went there twice, trip reports pending. You can get there by ferry from pier at the wat next to Klong Toei port. On the Bang Krachao side, you can rent bicycles for 100 Baht per day (or 50 Baht per hour). Well worth visiting!

 

It was a peninsula, but on the smallest part they dug a canal, so now it's an insula with one bridge to the mainland. It belongs to Samut Prakarn Province.

[Rogie]

I went there twice, trip reports pending.

 

Thank you Christian for part one of your report (in a separated thread). I look forward to seeing more of Bang Kachao.

 

If you had to choose Christian, what would you rather do, write up one of your trip reports or venture forth to somewhere intriguing like the so-called 'Fishbowl'?

 

I remembered I'd read about Bang Kachao in Alex Kerr's Bangkok Found, which I started reading last month and still only halfway through. On page 57 he writes:

 

"I've never been there, and I don't know anyone who has".

 

For someone whom I'd assumed had covered every square inch of Bangkok, that comment comes as quite a surprise to me.

[ChristianPFC]

I would rather venture forth to new places than write trip reports. In general, I like real life more than sitting in front of a computer.