Fish Feeding in BKK

Bangkok means many things to many people. Ask foreign tourists on Khao San Road and they’ll list temples, culture, seeing the world as their motivations for travel. Take an evening stroll down Sukumvit and you will pass Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza, and see that the sex trade remains booming. For anyone who has been around the region, Bangkok remains one of the most crowded, but modern and energetic cities in Southeast Asia.

A tax accountant from Vietnam once listed his schedule for every visa run to Bangkok. It involved Starbucks, a couple of movies, hours of shopping, and meals at Seven Eleven, Pizza Hut, and McDonold’s. Yes, Bangkok has many of the amenities of say, Los Angeles. It may even have a leg up on LA, especially for those of you who are worried about running into pretentious Hollywood movie stars.

Myself? I do indulge in a Big Mac and take advantage of a nicer hotel when I’m in town. However, there is one thing I enjoy perhaps more than anything else. (Here, the reader pauses, gearing up for a juicy confession). There one thing I can’t be in Bangkok without doing. (Here it comes). And that thing is feeding the fish at Lumpini Park (reader sighs at anti-climax). I'm being quite serious.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m at home in big cities. I was born in, and have chosen to live in, urban areas my whole life. Bangkok borders on being overwhelming with its urban-ness. Still, I love the street life, the sidewalks, the little anomalies: a dark alley, a building that seems out of place, a guy sitting in the middle of the sidewalk selling papayas out of a metal wash basin full of ice, that make BKK's neighborhoods intriguing. I love all that.

But there’s something about Lumpini Park. Maybe it’s the contrast between the natural and the man-made. Sit on the shores of the lake and you can see the city skyline rising in every direction. An island of quiet in the middle of the hum of urban chaos. The city is all around. The photograph above is of the skyline as seen while sitting on the banks of the lake. There is an unmistakable feel of insulation between the lake shore and the buildings. Nature, no matter how much of a city lover one might be, is often comforting.

One can see Tai Chi practitioners, joggers, various athletes, lovers, and fortune tellers. It’s all there, but there in a "the volume is turned down" kind of way. An almost exact reciprocal of the city outside the fences.

I don’t seek anyone out, except my main man, the guy selling bread crusts to suckers like me who come to feed the fish. I think he remembers me each time I come. He even Wai-ed last time. Maybe he thinks I’m nuts, a grown man doing what is usually reserved for kids. I don't care. I guess it is kind of child like to get excited by tossing bread on the top of the water, then getting excited by the underwater turbulence as the fish jockey for the biggest morsels. I've never seen one of the fish close up. The could have three eyes for all I know. Given the pollution in Bangkok, that is actually a distinct possibility.

So. Whether you come for the shopping, food, temples, sex, culture, or for business, give the fish feeding a try. If nothing else, it will put you in a position to see one of the world's most fantastic skylines while sitting in idyllic surroundings. More pictures here.