Lizards!

While my typical Saturday morning usually involves me sleeping in, one of my roommates makes a weekly early morning trip to Lumpini Park. After three weeks of inviting us, all four women living in my apartment forced ourselves up at out the door by 6:15 am. You may be familiar with Lumpini Park, which is sort of like the Central Park of Bangkok. If you have heard of it, it's likely because Lumpini Park was the encampment area for Red Shirts during the unrest from this past April. For the record, I did not understand why it was necessary that we get to the park by 6:30 in the morning. We were only planning on walking around and checking the place out, not running, so why bother to beat the heat? Upon arrival, I quickly realized that this is the place to work out in the early mornings. Bangkok has a very small number of parks for its enormous population. Thus, the parks it does have are often really crowded. When I visited, Lumpini was hopping! Not only were there aerobics classes, but tai chi, sword dancing, fan dancing, yoga... there were also Venice Beach-esque outdoor gym setups, restaurants, community centers, a pool, and many other attractions. From what I could tell, all were in use!


Though the people watching was pretty spectacular, it was the reptiles that really stole the show. Lumpini has a lake and some waterways that are home to many monitor lizards. At the beginning of our visit we thought we'd have to put in some effort in order to find one... wrong. They are everywhere! They can mostly be seen swimming in the water and slowly climbing up onto the banks. I was pretty impressed by how unconcerned both the humans and monitor lizards were of each others presence. As far as I could see, we were the only people gawking at them.


Going to Lumpini so early had one great plus: we made it to Chatuchak market by 8am. When people had told me about Chatuchak, they had also mentioned that it is the hottest and most chaotic place in Bangkok. Going early meant that we beat some of the rush and some of the heat (the operative word here is "some). Chatuchak is Bangkok's main outdoor market and it seemed to be about ten times the size of the medina in Tunis. For this trip, I mostly wandered and took in the sights. Now I know what they offer, so I'll come back another time and actually buy something. For the record, they sell absolutely everything: kitchenware, clothes, food, baskets, furniture, pets, art... you name it, you can find it at Chatuchak. The pets were particularly adorable.



I'm starting to sample some of the street food in Bangkok and find out what my favorites are. While at Chatuchak I bought some pineapple from a fruit cart. For 20 baht you can choose between 4-5 different fruits which the vendor slices up expertly and tops with a delicious mix of salt, sugar, and chili. I'm particularly fond of the pineapple-- I love the taste with the topping!

Another sweet treat I've enjoyed a few times now is roti (the banana pancakes I mentioned I ate in Pattaya). The closest thing I can compare roti to is a crepe... but it isn't a crepe. When you buy roti from a vendor he pulls a small ball of dough out of a container and splats it onto his counter. He continues throwing it down onto the counter until it spreads out into a thin disc-- very similar to the way you would stretch out pizza dough. The dough is placed on a well oiled grill and filled with your choice of toppings- I've only tried it with egg and banana. He folds the dough over the toppings and fries it up. It's topped with sugar and condensed milk and you eat little squares of it with a toothpick. I can't imagine that it is healthy but it is certainly delectable.


This week is a short work week for us due to Mother's Day/ the Queen's Birthday. If all goes according to plan, I'll be heading to Ko Samet on Thursday. And as always, I have new pics on my flickr.