Bang Krajao, or the "Green Lung of Bangkok" is an artificial island formed in a bend in the Chaophraya River just a bit south of Bangkok. It's a sort of "urban oasis", where development is limited, allowing a small natural jungle and rural village lifestyle right in the midst of the capital.
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satellite photo provided royalty-free via NASA
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To get there, you have to take the BTS Skytrain nearly to the end of the line. The station is actually in Samut Prakan, the province just southeast of Bangkok. Then, you have to take a taxi or bus to a pier on the river, from where you can catch a ferry across the Chaophraya to Bang Krajao itself.
This is a really deep and wide part of the river, and as we crossed, we passed by a huge Singaporean cargo ship. It's amazing to see such a huge ship on the river right in the middle of the city.
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| a huge cargo ship on the Chaophraya River |
We arrived on the island, rented a pair of very used bicycles from a guy at the pier for 100 baht, and began cycling through the quiet streets on the way to the local homestay we had booked.
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| lunch! |
We rode our bikes (getting lost several times, I might add) through Bang Krajao. In the afternoon, we visited the Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park And Botanical Garden. It's a sort of jungle-within-a-jungle. It's an even more protected area inside the already undeveloped Bang Krajao!
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| the jungle of Bang Krajao |
Instead of the manicured flowers of a traditional botanical garden, this park is more wild. There are a few bike trails, a beautiful pond, and a three-story tower from which people can watch the tropical birds that make their home in the jungle.
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| looking out from the Bird Watching Tower |
There's hardly any traffic in Bang Krajao. There are only a few cars, and nearly everyone rides a bicycle or motorbike. There are bike lines on every road, and raised bicycle paths through the jungle. There aren't really any stores (except for a few local restaurants and locally-run mom and pop convenience stores).
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| riding along the quiet roads |
Other than that, the island is mostly wild with several temples and residential areas. We stayed in Bang Krajao for Thursday and Friday. Most of the tourist sites like the floating market and the OTOP (local product workshop) are only open on the weekends.
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| biking in the Green Lung |
While we didn't get to see all of the sights that we wanted to, the trade-off was that we nearly had the whole place to ourselves. Not a ton of people visit during the week!
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| narrow bike paths through the jungle |
The people were very friendly as well! As we rode our bikes through the neighborhoods, the local people would ask us where we were from and were more than happy to give directions to where we were headed.
Even though we had gotten lucky to have a clear sunny day, the clouds were rolling in by late afternoon. We got back to the homestay just in time! As soon as we rode up to the property, it began pouring!
We ordered some local food via delivery - crab fried rice and Thai-style chicken wings - and shared a beer that we had picked up at a local shop. My fiancee had worked the night shift the night before, and I had been up at 4:30 to teach a super early morning class, and we were both exhausted after a day cycling in the bright sun.
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| at the botanical garden |
The next morning, we rode out bright and early to hunt down a cup of coffee. We had our eye on a cafe called Ozone, which looked really cool!
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good morning
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Ozone is located in a pretty large area alongside a canal. It's a huge cafe - three stories and a large outdoor area with bungalows, hammocks, and umbrellas to lounge beneath. We were, however, the only visitors that morning.
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| biking to Ozone Cafe |
It's a nice place to get a morning iced coffee! In fact, Ozone reminded me a lot of some of the cool outdoor cafes that we had spent time at in Laos, like
Smile Beach and
Utopia.
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| Ozone Cafe |
The cafe was decorated in vintage tech - old black and white TVs, radios, broken-down motorbikes, and even an old rickshaw that you could pose on to take photos.
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| an old rickshaw |
The most interesting part were the birds! The cafe was home to a flock of ducks, geese, and (to my surprise) a small number of American turkeys!
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| turkeys! |
We didn't have to check out of the homestay until 11:30, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy our iced coffees and one of the less-known but most impressive sites in Bang Krajao.
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| morning coffee |
A few kilometres later, we came to the Maha Dewalai Temple, a small Hindu temple dedicated to the elephant-headed god Ganesha.
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| Ganesha |
Surrounded by jungle palms, a colorful statue of the god Ganesha can be found at a small Hindu temple in Bang Krajao. Though Thailand is an officially Buddhist country with some 95% of the population adhering to Buddhism, there is a deep and ancient underlying Hindu influence on Thai spirituality. Ganesha is one of the most popular Hindu gods to be worshiped in Thailand.
A handful of worshipers were taking part in a ritual - making offerings to Ganesha and whispering their wishes into the ear of Ganesha's rat helper.
Before heading back across the river, we wanted to stop by one more place. We ended up getting a bit lost, but had the chance to ride our bikes through some of the jungle paths, which was a lot of fun!
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| cycling paths |
We finally got to our destination: Hidden Forest. It's a cafe, restaurant, and even a hotel (I think). Hidden Forest is located right along the river, and there is a ton of great outdoor seating.
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| Hidden Forest |
We had already had coffee, so we ordered some cool refreshing drinks and an order of cheesy fries to share. Mostly, we just wanted to relax and enjoy the cool breeze blowing in over the river. I loved the feeling of the clean, fresh air! I miss that in the city.
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| looking out over the river |
I got a refreshing iced drink with mint, juice, and soda. My fiancee had a malt drink with cream cheese foam. Both were excellent!
Eventually, though, it was time to leave Bang Krajao and head back to Bangkok. We returned our bikes to the guy at the pier, paid the 4 baht fare for the ferry back across the river, and made our way back to the Skytrain.
Bang Krajao is an incredible part of Bangkok. It's a little out of the way, and I tend to forget that it's there, but it's an amazing place to experience nature and fresh air without leaving the city at all. The only downside of visiting in the middle of the week was that not all of the sites were open to visitors. Hopefully we can go back during a weekend sometime soon to see the things that we missed this time around.
