A bridge to some calm in frenetic Bangkok

Bangkok is not all high rises, canals and traffic chaos. Local resident David Armstrong reveals a local secret, an oasis for walkers and cyclists. 

Bangkok has a long stretch of main road (Ploenchit and Sukhumvit roads) overloaded with high end hotels, shopping malls and luxury apartment blocks.

But running parallel, a little to the south, is the city’s Green Mile – a skybridge connecting central Bangkok’s two big parks, Lumphini Park and Benjakitti Park (with its forest park wetlands extension).

The bridge caters for cyclists, joggers and plain-old walkers.

From the Lumphini Park side, it cuts through the city, crossing a main road and an expressway.

Once it reaches Benjakitti, it divides; one arm allows cycling and the other, branded as the Skywalk, is for joggers and walkers.

The cycle path skirts a khlong (canal) on the border of the park; the Skywalk goes through the wild wetlands before reaching the more-ordered woodlands of Benjakitti Park. 

* David Armstrong is a distinguished journalist and editor, who has been in the media industry since 1969. He currently writes for the Pearls & Irritations public policy journal.