After our visit to the Cambodian Embassy to submit Caleb’s Visa application we visited the Sanam Rat park in Bangkok, Thailand. It’s a large park with a lot to see including ponds and a small lake, fountains, a beautiful conference pavilion, botanical gardens, and water monitor lizards.

Charlotte was – as aways – thrilled just to simply be in green space. The lack of green space is the main reason she has trouble living in Phnom Penh. Then she noticed something strange swimming in one of the ponds. She gasped, “What is that? Is that a small crocodile?! Wait – maybe it’s a snake?! What is that?!” She cautiously moved forward to examine it. It was an Asian Water Monitor lizard. It was a transformative experience for Charlotte. Now she says that Water Monitors – not Cats or Horses – are her favorite animal. It makes me want to take her to Indonesia to see the Komodo Dragons.

There is a Medicinal Plants Garden at the Sanam Rat park. It was a birthday present to one of the Thai princesses when she turned five years old. What a wonderful gift.

The bark of Wild Cinnamon – which is native to the region – has the characteristic cinnamon color that you’d expect but doesn’t have the same smell as the cinnamon we use for seasoning.

There was a wonderful water pot garden in one corner of the Sanam Rat park. Each pot contained Water Lilies or Lotus flowers. It was really inspiring! I came away convinced that we should have one at our house.

I found a cute little millipede at the water pot garden. Caleb and the girls were very interested in it. These helpful little insects feed on decaying organic matter and an important part of a healthy garden ecosystem.

There was a full outside gym at the Sanam Rat park – which I didn’t take a photo of because people were using it – but we did try out one piece of exercise equipment. A bike powered waterwheel!

The bathroom attendant at the Sanam Rat park took Caleb for Crystal… But she didn’t realize I was his Dad and thought I was just some weirdo taking photos. She laughed and seemed relieved when Crystal came out and it was clear that I was the father. People say Caleb looks like me but I guess not enough? I’m glad that she was cautious.

The traditional Chinese garden at the Sanam Rat park was on an island in it’s own little pond.

There was a wonderful cactus garden at the Sanam Rat park but it was closed so we could only peek in from the outside.

There were rows of Siam Tulips at the Sanam Rat park.

The Rajamangala Pavilion made for an impressive centerpiece to the Sanam Rat park. It was getting late so we didn’t go boating in the small lake beside it – much to Charlotte’s disappointment – but did promise to go boating at one of the other parks in Bangkok later in the week.

The Sanam Rat park has a fairly large hedge maze which Caleb and I carefully navigated. Then, to our surprise, the girls ran back into the maze to evade us. Somehow get through the maze became hide from Dad in the maze! We got them by sending Crystal in one end while I waited at the other.

I’m not including the many photos of individual flowers that I took at the Sanam Rat park because I included all of them in the Flowers of Bangkok 2023 post.

We didn’t get to explore the entirety of the park because it was getting late and rainclouds were approaching. But we had a wonderful time with what we did get to see.