In April 2016, I wrote about Running at Lumpini Park - Green Lung of Bangkok. It was my sharing on morning run during my business trip at beautiful Lumpini Park, Bangkok. Last week I had an opportunity to travel to Bangkok again for business. I decided to run at Lumpini Park this round in the evening after work instead of morning before work for the first time for a different running experience.
Lumpini Park in Bangkok is open for public from 4.30 am to 9.00 pm daily. My Thai colleagues advised me not to run there in the evening as they were worried about my safety. They forgot that I'm half Thai and I love to soak myself in local culture wherever I go. Experiencing Lumpini Park through evening run was one of my personal motivations for this latest Bangkok business trip. :)
I managed to reach back to hotel from work around 6.45 pm. With a quick change, I managed to start my evening run from Holiday Inn Express at Sathorn to Lumpini Park only at around 7 pm Thai time. With the time difference of 1 hour, it means that it would have been 8 pm in Malaysia.
Seriously, I have never started to run so late at night before, except the Putrajaya Night Marathon 2016 and Men's Health Run few years ago. If I were to run in the evening at Bukit Jalil Park, I would have finished my run at 8 pm because Bukit Jalil Park is rather dark by 8 pm.
With the comparison of Bukit Jalil Park to Lumpini Park and the time of 7 pm Thai time (8 pm Malaysia time), I did start to get a bit worried about my safety and where I would end up to be one of the few runners only in the park.
Anyway, instead of thinking of the unknown, I might as well run there to find out for sure....
Evening run at Lumpini Park, Bangkok
👍beautiful 2.5 km loop
Yes, I had to run on busy streets of Bangkok from hotel to the park with the air pollution from the heavy traffic after office hours. And the weather was hot and humid at 33 degree Celsius with . But being a running enthusiast, I love having different running experiences.
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! I ended up running at Lumpini Park 2 evenings in a row. :)
On the first evening, I ran a total of 11.3 km. The distance from my hotel to entrance of Lumpini Park is around 1.9 km one way making it 3.8 km return run. 1 loop inside Lumpini Park is 2.5 km. With my 3-loop run, I ended up running 7.5 km in the beautiful park.
I was overly excited about my first evening run experience there on first evening. Therefore, I decided to run there again on the second evening covering 6.11 km.
As I have shared rather a fair bit of Lumpini Park in the previous article, I thought I would focus slightly more on the different atmosphere, different experience I had during my evening run this round.
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| Running from hotel to the park through the streets of Bangkok |
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| Holiday Inn Express to Lumpini Park evening run |
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| Inside Lumpini Park - 2.5 km per loop. Hot and humid at 33 degree Celsius but I love it! |
Beautiful night view of Bangkok skyline
👍breathtaking views of Bangkok skylines
Same place. Different view.
Really - the feeling of running at Lumpini Park in the evening is rather different from running there in the morning. Both are equally unique.
Check out the beautiful night view of Bangkok skyline seen from Lumpini Park. Beautiful, right?
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| Reflection of the well-lit buildings in Bangkok near Lumpini Park |
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| Another night view |
Hundreds of evening runners and sports enthusiasts
👍Positive, energy-filled, pumped up runners and sports enthusiasts
I thought I would see only few runners at the late hours of 7-8 pm at Lumpini Park. To my surprise, I saw at least 200 to 300 runners, joggers, sports enthusiasts inside the Lumpini Park! Wow! I was so impressed and amazed by the sheer active healthy lifestyle of Thai people!
As I ran the 2.5 km distance 3 loops, I snapped some photos along the way with my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smart phone. Due to low lighting, the photos didn't turn out quite well especially when I snapped as I ran. But it doesn't matter. I hope the pictures I shared here would have given you an sense of how it's like to have evening run there.
I noticed the evening runners were mainly Thais with most of them going there after work for their daily dose of exercise. Some runners were serious runners doing their tempo runs. The rest are more leisure runners and joggers.
It was very nice to run in the midst of all the Thai people. I felt like I was part of the beautiful people of the land of smile. :)
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| The runner is white was doing his tempo run. I tried to keep up with him. haha! |
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| Many runners and joggers even at such hot and humid evening |
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| I spotted some leisure cyclists too in the park |
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| There are a few stretching areas with many runners doing their warm up and cool down stretching |
5-star safety @ Lumpini Park, Bangkok
👍security booths with security guards on duty every few hundred meters in the park
👍security guards on bicycle doing their rounds of duty
👍closed circuit cameras (CCTVs) all over the park
👍very well-lit park with no dark spots at all along the main route
My initial worry about safety was overcome by the impressive security measures at Lumpini Park, Bangkok. It's a park covering 2.5 km distance in the largest loop. Yet, it's so well-lit through the route with no dark spots. Virtually every corner I turned, I could see people - runners, joggers, gym goers, basketball players, cyclists, tennis players, etc.
I also noticed CCTVs (close circuit cameras) are all around the park.
Additionally, every few hundred meters, there are security booths with security guards on duty. I also saw the bicycles for the security guards to ride around the park for even tighter security check for safety.
Surrounded by more than hundred people in the park on a weekday evening, I have never felt any safer than this.
In fact, I felt safer running at Lumpini Park compared to running at Bukit Jalil Park or Lake Garden in KL in the evening at same hours. haha!
👍security guards on bicycle doing their rounds of duty
👍closed circuit cameras (CCTVs) all over the park
👍very well-lit park with no dark spots at all along the main route
My initial worry about safety was overcome by the impressive security measures at Lumpini Park, Bangkok. It's a park covering 2.5 km distance in the largest loop. Yet, it's so well-lit through the route with no dark spots. Virtually every corner I turned, I could see people - runners, joggers, gym goers, basketball players, cyclists, tennis players, etc.
I also noticed CCTVs (close circuit cameras) are all around the park.
Additionally, every few hundred meters, there are security booths with security guards on duty. I also saw the bicycles for the security guards to ride around the park for even tighter security check for safety.
Surrounded by more than hundred people in the park on a weekday evening, I have never felt any safer than this.
In fact, I felt safer running at Lumpini Park compared to running at Bukit Jalil Park or Lake Garden in KL in the evening at same hours. haha!
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| security booth with security guards and bicycles for them to ride around the park to ensure safety of park users |
5-star sports facilities @ Lumpini Park, Bangkok
👍Modern air-conditioned fitness center with complete fitness equipment, treadmills
👍Modern yoga center connecting to the fitness center
👍Outdoor gym for the hard core body builders and weight trainers
👍2 basketball courts
👍1 swimming pool
👍2 tennis courts
👍plenty of free-entry public toilets
👍public shower facilities in selected public toilets
👍baggage service at public toilet entrances for those who come straight to park to do their exercises
👍Stalls selling drinks, snacks
👍Food court open during day time
👍water fountains at strategic spots
👍bicycle for rentals
The facilities at Lumpini Park, Bangkok are truly 5-star!!
I have not seen a public park that's so complete! I can truly see the wonderful effort of Bangkok government to provide all the sports facilities as accessible as possible, as complete as possible, as diversified as possible, as convenient as possible for all those visiting the beautiful Lumpini Park for their fitness and health.
I find that the park is designed FOR THE PEOPLE.
Come on - even baggage service at public toilet areas? How much more considerate can it be? It's a truly a park with a heart for the people. No wonder it's packed with so many people - all happily doing their exercises.
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| The facilities is so modern - on the left is the gym /fitness center, and on the right is the room for yoga. |
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| Basketball courts for those who enjoy playing basketball |
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| Swimming pool |
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| tennis courts |
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| I'm very very impressed by this baggage service, providing convenience for those who come to the park for exercise |
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| This is an old outdoor gym area for those hard core body builders and weight lifters. |
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| Many groups doing their dancing, tabata exercises, etc |
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| Stalls selling drinks so runners and sports enthusiasts do not need to worry about dehydration |
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| water fountain for a quick drink... |
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| Bicycle rentals if you choose to ride a bike in the city or inside the park |
Singing praises for Lumpini Park
I have nothing but only praises for Lumpini Park, especially the 5-star facilities. The crowd is also equally impressive and amazing. It looks like everyone really loves outdoor here. :)Yes, the weather is hot.
Yes, the weather is humid.
But hey - aren't we living in tropical country?
I feel that Lumpini Park has a beautiful soul.
Lumpini Park has a heart.
It's full of life and energy.
It's truly a reflection of Thai's lifestyle and love for sports and outdoors.
I know I have said it before in my previous article (click here) how I highly recommend this park to those visiting Bangkok. Well, now that I have run here both in the morning and evening and see even more of the beauty of Lumpini Park, I now urge you to experience it yourself and do a comparison to other parks you have run at near your own places. You will be amazed at how different this Lumpini Park is.
How to go to Lumpini Park
It will be good if you can choose to stay at hotels near to Lumpini Park. Depending on your budgets, there are many hotels to choose from within proximity.
- Opening Hours: 4.30 am to 9.00 pm daily
- Location : Rama IV Road, Pathumwan
- MRT : Silom station or Lumpini station
- BTS : Saladaeng station
Check out my morning run experience at Lumpini Park, Bangkok
Written by Vincent Khor on March 4, 2017
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