What’s been happening in Bangkok of late, when combined with the photo here taken from the Khaosod website, makes one think of the witty words of Noel Coward “Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday Sun“.
However the pedestrians in this photo taken certainly to not look like Englishmen to me and it’s little wonder if the harsh environment around the shadeless Government House has driven them insane.
Perhaps they are also genuine royalists and further maddened at the contempt that successive governments have shown towards their Thai Majesties by failing to plant shady trees, as for example the forest of Yang Na trees planted by His Majesty in the grounds of the nearby Chitlada Palace grounds.
However it is not only Prime Ministers and their cabinets which have failed Bangkok residents in this respect. On State Railways of Thailand open space beside the airport rail link station where the line meets the MRT a great open space, suitable it appears only for a form of bizarre meditation by a sole monk from Korea perhaps, remains treeless.
Further to ensure it does not become a informal football field, note it has strips of gravel laid to deter local children.
But downtown Bangkok, deprived of access to Lumpini Park for months, is not totally park less. Hidden away in the Sathorn area is a park built to honour King Bumipol’s 80th birthday.
Although nearly 7 years old it appears that only two of the many trees there have grown appreciably. Of these one is the extremely hardy Butea superba and the other a self sown Rain Tree. All the trees planted were over advanced specimens.
With global temperatures on the rise and no moves to green and shade Bangkok and Chiang Mai it appears the country will continue to be run by mad dogs for sometime.
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