Morning in Lumphini Park (10 images)

Lumphini Park (also spelled Lumpini or Lumpinee) is a 142-acre park in Bangkok. The park offers open public space, trees and playgrounds in the Thai capital and contains an artificial lake where visitors can rent a variety of boats. Paths around the park totalling approximately 2.5 km in length are a popular area for evening joggers. Lumpini Park was created in the 1920s by King Rama VI on royal property. A statue of the king stands at the southwestern entrance to the park. It was named for...
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Lumphini Park (also spelled Lumpini or Lumpinee) is a 142-acre park in Bangkok. The park offers open public space, trees and playgrounds in the Thai capital and contains an artificial lake where visitors can rent a variety of boats. Paths around the park totalling approximately 2.5 km in length are a popular area for evening joggers. Lumpini Park was created in the 1920s by King Rama VI on royal property. A statue of the king stands at the southwestern entrance to the park. It was named for Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha in Nepal, and at the time of its creation stood on the outskirts of the city. Today it lies in the heart of the main business district and is in the Lumphini sub-district, on the north side of Rama IV Road, between Ratchadamri Road and Witthayu (Wireless) Road.

The park comes alive while most people in Bangkok are still dead asleep. Starting about 5:30AM and going until about 8:00AM thousands of people come down to the park, some to jog, some to meditate, some to practice karaoke (seriously!) but most to practice the ancient Chinese fitness ritual of tai-chi. I photographed a couple of groups, including one that used enormous swords, doing tai-chi during a recent visit to the park.
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