7 Hour Trip to/from The Bike Store and Lumphini Park

I am still looking for a bike....which provides us with a destination even if it does mean that we sometimes feel like we are on a wild goose chase. We decided to Trek to a bike store located on the north side of Lumphini Park and see the park at the same time.

Of course getting there is half the fun and we left early because getting anywhere in Bangkok takes time.....and we are familiarizing ourselves with public transport.  By the way, the final trip never looks like I imagine it from the map.  I expect a sign to say "get off here Bridget and Vince, this is the MRT (subway)". Or at least give some indication of where we are. It was to be this: bike to the bus stop, lock bikes and say a silent prayer that they are there when we return, catch the bus (after frantically waving it down-a foreigner waving usually has all taxis within 500 m screeching to a halt), get off at the BTS (sky train), and take it to the park. When we got on the bus there were no seats left so the ticket person said that we could sit on the big bump right beside the driver. Oh, you mean the engine? Let's just say it was an air conditioned bus and after 45 min my head was cold and my butt was burning. We were talking about where to get off and a nice young man, Jose, behind us asked if we needed help. Actually, he said "where are you guys trying to go?" which was such great english I almost hugged him. He was from the Philippines and now is an assistant coach and manager for our new favourite basketball team the Sports Rev Thailand Slammers. And get this......the coach is none other than Kobe Bryant's dad. So, he has our email and wants to invite us to some games...hence our new favourite team. He also says they really, really need fans. which was funny. Apparently, Mr. B and his wife are just living in Thailand having some fun. He keeps hoping Kobe will visit but so far no such luck.

All that to say we got off at the subway with him and figured out our way together-he was testing the travel route as well. The subway opened in 2004 so is very modern.

A second layer of safety doors which remain closed until the subway door opens. 

Vince doesn't like the doors. He prefers the train where the guard whistles really loudly when he gets too close to the edge.

Lumphini Park had Bixi bikes which here is called Punpunbikeshare. I was so excited to see them but you need a passport to register and I didn't have mine, so it will have to wait.  You also need google translate if you want to read the last line unless you have been hiding the fact that you are fluent in Thai. There is a 2.5 km loop in the park which has a lot of runners and cyclists.

One of the three lakes. Yup, those are swan boats.

A boy was getting ready to feed the fish which to me looked way to much like the ones for sale at the market. This one spiraled towards us and attached himself to the pipe. Show-off. Not sure if it is now dead or alive!

The frenzy that ensued when he threw in food was creepy to say the least.  Maybe not piranhas, but stay the hell out of the water.

Along the way we saw various workout machines like you would see in a gym except picture them painted red and yellow and then rusted. Then we came upon this full on-weight room out in the middle of the park. 

A lot of Chinese culture here.

Tai Chi

Nice gathering places.

We ran and hid here when it started to pour.

...and pour....

We stayed a while.

.....tried to make a break for it but this happened...again.

 Just hanging out reading the map. I should bring something to read since this is not really an unusual occurrence.

We have no idea what we came upon but it looked like people were living here...all over the place. This is embarrassing since it could be something big that I missed in the news. 

In short, we got poured on, found the bike shop which had lots of road and mountain bikes but not what I was looking for. I still cannot figure out where people are riding these high-end bikes. I will have to stalk the few I see out near our place.

We walked to the Sky Train which is easier to find because it is, well......in the sky. At the top of the escalator we couldn't believe our eyes....a golf course in the middle of the city!

Like a REAL golf course...probably a par 3.

They bag everything here and if you get on the train they bag your cup.

I actually asked Vince if he thought we were on the correct side of the track.....he pointed to these. Yep train stops here!!

 We took the Sky Train to a station where we were going to see if we could catch a bus home to round out our public transportation day. When we got off at Lat Krabang and saw another, older train route right beside it. It was incredible to see the difference since both are running and as advanced as the sky train is, the train is old. It must have been quite something to see it go up just a few years ago.

Sitting solo at the bus stop. Okay, so we were pretty sure it was the bus stop even though we had to climb over two sets of tracks and meander under an overpass. The seat was actually too high for Vince which was funny. We waited and finally other people showed up. The guy at the train station told us to  take the red bus #26 which coincided to what we though with our handy-dandy map. 

Finally, more people showed up and when there 15-20 of us two of these busses showed up and everyone got on. Okay, so by everyone, I mean everyone except us. This is what I called a "chicken bus" in an earlier post-I learned the name then forgot it. "Hmm, let's wait for the 26", we say. We now have a plan that if more people show up and they all get on the next chicken bus and verify that he is going near the main road, Ramkhnahaeng. Big C, the driver says so we hop on the back because Big C is a grocery store close to us. Okay, so maybe there is more than one Big C...

 We jumped off at "other" Big C which was at a crossroad we knew. I took a picture to see if one of those works in 26. That's Vince paying the driver the 7 B (23 cents) it took to ride it for 15 km! He was hanging of the back at one point. 

We shopped for dinner and took a short taxi back to our bikes. Oh happy day, they were still there. A friend had hers stolen but it was a nice new one...which ours are not but they do have the kinda new baskets on them. I am thinking of replacing mine with a laundry basket like this to blend in more.

Seven hours later and we got home......more educated, tired and realizing that we just took 6 different modes of transportation on one day. All in a day of Bangkok education. Oh, and if any of you visit, you will not be spared from the chicken bus!