Trip report Bangkok August 2011 Butterfly garden and Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden
(continued from trip report Chiang Mai)
14.08.2011
9:40 Arrive in Bangkok from overnight train from Chiang Mai. Check in in Diamond Residence between Silom Soi 11 and 13. Recommendation by a friend who once worked there, 1000 Baht per night including breakfast. I got a room without windows, but as it was only for one night I didnтАЩt care. Call a regular for a quick roll in the hay (as I wrote between the lines, I didnтАЩt have any sex in Chiang Mai for 3 days, so I had to catch up).
My friend is free the day and he joins me to go to Rotfai park (State Railway Public Park) north of Chatuchak market where the Butterfly garden is located. (Not what you think, IтАЩm talking about caterpillar, pupa, butterfly.) During the trip by taxi and on our arrival it is raining heavily, so we have a meal at a restaurant first to wait until the rain is over. The park is vast, considerably larger than Lumpini park. We are lucky, no more rain for the day.
(Subtract one hour from the time stamp to get Thai time.)
After walking around for half an hour (I have no directions where exactly in the Railway Park the Butterfly Garden is), we finally find the Butterfly garden around 4pm. Offical closing time is 4:30, but the entrace is locked! But IтАЩm a clever boy, so I check the exit, which is right beside* the entrance, and it is open! There are still a few people inside, so we enter through the exit. Now donтАЩt expect the butterflies to flock to you like boys in a bar, it took about a minute or two until we saw the first one. But then there are plenty of them, of various kinds, large and colourful. Difficult to take pictures of them. There are boards with information about butterflies as well.
From the internet (I didnтАЩt find a webpage operated by the Butterfly Garden):
We continue to Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden, which is just south of the Railway Park. Again I am surprised how vast this garden is. They grow various kinds of plants there.Free Admission: Rotfai Gardens, BTS Mochit, Chatuchak Park Subway
Open: 8:30 - 16:30 daily except Monday +66 (0)2 272 4359
By far the most beautiful park I know in Bangkok. One hour was not enough to explore the entire park.
We take a taxi back to Surawang, I remunerate my friend for his time and he is just in time to get to work. I have an appointment with another friend (the one from DJ station who went with me to the Erawan Museum). After some temporal and spacial misunderstandings (taxi or ferry to his place or to restaurant) which cost about one hour waiting for shuttle boat and some phone calls, we meet at his place and go to Yok Yor (р╕вр╕Бр╕вр╕н) restaurant which is not far. This is a restaurant at the Chao Phraya river which has a shuttle boat service to Saphan Taksin pier and where you can have dinner during a river cruise. But we stay on land and have dinner at the river. Reasonably priced, good food and good location (river view, on the west side a bit north of Saphan Taksin Bride).
We go to my friendтАЩs place and sit outside with neighbors. My friend tells me about a policeman who died not long before in a nearby police station, however not due violence related to his profession, but from an accident caused by his drunkenness! Other stories worth sharing emerge: when my friend was teaching students only a few years younger than him, he got unambiguous offers from some of them. He waited until short before his contract ran out (so it wouldnтАЩt impact his professional performance) before he accepted.
We take a taxi to my hotel. I didnтАЩt count how many bears he had, but obviously a few too many. When IтАЩm done showering, he is in bed and asleep. Not the first time that a friend falls asleep as soon a he hits the bed (and having a few drinks to many). I pack my suitcase and then join him for some hugging and cuddling. About 5 am, my alarm clock rings, we say goodbye and I leave for the airport.
The end.
(At least for that holiday. But ChristianPFC will be back to Thailand soon!)
* grammar note:
beside тАУ next to or at the side of sb/sth
besides тАУ in addition to sb/sth; apart from sb/sth
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Originally Posted by christianpfc
