After the hustle and bustle of the first weekend, I decided to go for somewhere a bit more relaxed for a while, and ended up at Tom’s Guest House. This is a lovely, affordable, spot above a nice restaurant. I had a fridge, much needed air con, and fresh bottles of water delivered to the bedroom door every morning—a lovely touch.
Tom’s Guest House
I originally booked it for a few nights with the intention of going down to the islands afterwards. Looking at the weather though it didn’t seem ideal so I ended up staying here over a week.
Of course, the main draw was the park nearby. I had done some research beforehand and heard it’s a good place to run and they weren’t wrong!
Parklife
I really fell in love with Lumphini Park, spending many hours there in early December (it will get it’s own post at some point!). This is best illustrated on the Saturday when, after tuning in to the Late Late Toy Show from Thailand, I called over for a morning yoga class, followed by a Pakrun, and then just chilling about there for the afternoon.
The Toy Show from Thailand
I found the Sati Om Yoga class on Insta and booked the experience through Airbnb. This was a lot of fun, although twas spenny enough, especially given my level and the amount of cheaper alternatives I’d find out about. Still enjoyed it though and thought the instructor was excellent.
One of my better poses, believe it or not
The Parkrun is something I’ve taken part in for years and is a great way to start your Saturday. While there’s no official Parkrun in Thailand yet, I figured I could still run a fast 5k in a park! By 9.30am it was already roasting but I did the two full laps of the park which is bang on the 5k.
Experiences
One of my traditions back home is to chill out in the jacuzzi after a Saturday 5k so thought I’d give it a go here in Bangkok. Found a spot near to the guest house that had day passes so went along to SO Bangkok. This is a fitness centre up on the 9th floor of a hotel. The views were class, but the water was freezing which I did not expect, especially when it was so warm out. They didn’t even have a jacuzzi either, but I did avail of the sauna and steam room. Not a bad experience by any means but I wouldn’t do it again.
I got back to the gaff and crashed hard after my early morning activies. I awoke just in time to head over to the Mahanakhon Skywalk. This is one of the highest rated things to do in Bangkok according to Booking.com so I gave it a gawk, mainly because of the marginal discount I got on Booking, due to all the rooms I’ve booked. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I a Booking Genius Level 3 😌
The Skywalk was grand (in the Irish sense of the word). These elevated landmarks are okay for a wee photo but they never really blow me away (and thankfully not off either heh).
Next up was meant to be the Merseyside Derby, but alas it was called off due to the weather, which was hard for me to parse since I was melting away here. I guess my trash talk with Sligo’s premier Blue, SK, will have to wait for another day.
All in all a very busy, yet brilliant, Saturday—I really earned my lazy Sunday!
It’s like he was floating on air”
Meetups
Much of the rest of the time was spent lampin’ about, though one thing worth mentioning is Meetup.com—a great resource when you’re new in any place really.
I spotted this Meetup group so went along on the following Tuesday. We ran two light laps of Lumphini park at a conversational pace. Some of us carried on the conversation afterwards at a nearby restaurant, and also connected on Strava (add me!), as all the cool kids are doing these days. It’s nice to have connections around the world as you never know when you might run into each other again (you can take a hike buddy if you think I’m going to pardon that, or indeed any, pun).
Lumphini Running Club
As if all that wasn’t enough fun, to wrap up my first full week in Bangkok, look who I bumped into!
“Meeting” Moo Deng, the most famous Thai of recent times
DavAI SummAIriser
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