Walking in Bangkok

I suppose it’s probably about time I started writing about living in Bangkok instead of yammering on about nice walks in the Northamptonshire countryside. In fairness, I have only been here for 5 days, although, as is often the case in these kinds of scenarios, familiarity with my surroundings has developed at such a pace that I feel like I’ve been here for a few weeks.

The First Walk

Having landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport nice and early on Sunday morning, I was able to beat the Bangkok traffic (for once) and get to the house for 08:00. The most obvious thing to do after a 12-hour flight was to take the dogs on their first walk in Thailand. Chris had quite rightly opted to allow the dogs to settle into the house and garden for a day or so, rather than attempting to take on the soi dogs and whatever else Bangkok had to offer, but there was no avoiding it now. The roads were quiet, the temperature was relatively mild, and we had two pairs of hands.

We set out equipped with a good supply of doggy water and a craving for coffee. In the UK, we’d often walked the dogs to Costa to pick up a takeaway coffee and we knew that Ekkamai (the area we’d chosen to live in Bangkok) had many an artisan coffeehouse to choose from, so thought this would be a nice little activity to do at the weekend.

Sharing Space

Where we live the streets are very narrow; only just wide enough for two cars to pass each other but with no pavement, and with any additional space on the road often occupied by a street food vendor. Some of these streets are nice and quiet but these quiet streets inevitably lead to slightly busier streets that then lead to a very busy four-lane road! But it was Sunday morning so although there were a few cars around, the usual swarm of motorbikes was absent for now. We did, however, struggle to find a coffee shop that was open before 10:00 – it doesn’t look like Thai’s are quite a caffeine-dependent to function in the morning as we are! After a few failed attempts, but an otherwise nice tour of the outside of coffee shops in the area, we found a place that was open. To Chris’ disdain, I insisted on ordering a hot coffee. I just can’t get my head around the iced versions - something that has the taste of a drink I normally enjoy hot but is now cold - what’s that about? Chris reckons I will have no credibility with the locals if I insist on ordering hot drinks but I’m sticking with it.


Nicely refuelled and with the dogs having glugged down some water, we headed home, pleasantly satisfied that we had succeeded in completing our first walk without issue. We took the boys out again in the afternoon, got more coffee (I was starting to run on empty by this point) and again got them home without anything more than a few woofs in response to dogs in the gardens we walked past.

Dog Town

A lot of people where we live have dogs of varying shapes and sizes. Thai’s often favour smaller breeds but there are Labradors, Retrievers, Terriers to name but a few. One thing that people don’t seem to do though is walking their dogs. Chris and I have had a lot of strange looks from people as we’ve been walking around with the boys although, as Chris has pointed out, we must look quite a sight – a 6ft5 blonde, pasty, western bloke accompanied by possibly the only two lurchers in Thailand and a translucently pasty western woman with curly orange hair. But seriously, even though every house has a dog (including the one next door that barks at 2 am) I have only seen one other dog being walked so far. I think they just get left outside to run around in their gardens or in the street which I think might be what everyone in the UK did in the 50s & 60s. Anyway, Charles and Siale have come from a routine of two good walks a day so we must persist!

Carving a Route

Monday morning came, and it was time to see what we were really up against. Unfortunately, a combination of jetlag, general nervous anticipation and that stupid dog next door had kept me awake for most of the night, so I wasn’t really feeling that fresh. We set out again, Google Maps on hand to guide us through the maze of streets that all look the same.  Things were certainly more frantic this time around and whilst I don’t think we were in any immediate danger, cars were passing slowly but close and motorbikes were zipping past at what felt like inches from our bodies. The dogs were great though! We kept them on the inside but weirdly they seemed unfazed – maybe having now experienced a plane taking off, cars and motorbikes didn’t seem so scary. We managed to carve out a 45-minute walk and made it home, all ready for breakfast.


We’ve experimented throughout the week and our current preference is to get onto the busiest road we can find – Sukhumvit 71 which is four lanes of traffic and fairly bustling with pedestrians but, most importantly, it has pavement! I would say this road is exactly what I’d pictured Bangkok to be like; lots of people, various food vendors operating out of run-down buildings or carts and the whole area just being a little bit grubby. Chris pointed out one of the ‘newer’ buses earlier and it was still a chugging, exhaust fume bellowing beast, certainly not compliant with the London Low Emission Zone!

Interesting Sights!

There are a few schools along this road and you get the classic sight of a father dropping off his three children on a motorbike – this is by all accounts quite tame and I will no doubt see more ridiculous things being carried on motorbikes. My favourite sight so far has been three deep fried chickens still with their heads on looking quite animated, as if they were plunged into the fryer alive and in the throes of death their last pose was preserved.

I had read that walking in Bangkok was to be avoided, but generally because of the stifling heat and humidity. It’s Winter now, so although it’s still 30 degrees, you don’t melt as soon as you start moving. The main challenge really is either the lack of pavement or the complete inconsistency of whatever pavement there is. I walked along one street where the trees had grown so large I had to squeeze through tiny little gaps to get by.

Crossing the road is also quite a predicament at times. There is never a time when no cars are coming, even if you are waiting at what appears to be a zebra crossing. Chris has now perfected the art of timing it just right to get across, but this still involves stepping out in front of traffic. I was out on my own the other day and genuinely contemplated getting a taxi because I didn’t know how I was going to cross the road.

So, we’re taking it one day at a time for now. It’s doable but I think I’ll be looking at the dog park for the weekend….

Coffee break