Thanon Phaya Thai | Bangkok Photo Walks, Issue 110

About 43 photographers met at the Ratchaprarop Airport Rail Link station on the morning of Sunday 9th March.

Mark found us a fascinating route that included the area’s two parks, ending at Oasis Coffee Rangnam, just round

the corner from Victory Monument BTS station. Strictly speaking, the majority of the route is in the western end

of the Makkasan subdistrict, but it circles and ends in Thanon Phaya Thai subdistrict.

Both of the aforementioned subdistricts are parts of the Ratchathewi district, which was originally part of

the Dusit district until 1966 and then the Phaya Thai district until 1989. The name “Ratchathewi” (ราชเทวี) comes

from the official rank of royal consorts – Phra Ratchathewi, also spelt as Phra Rajadevi. In particular, it is named

after the Princess Consort of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), Phra Nangchao Sukumalmarsri Phra Ratchathewi.

As a fellow child of King Mongkut (Rama IV), she was also her husband’s half-sister. Outliving her semi-sibling,

she was given the title of “Queen Aunt” during the reign of King Prajadhipok (Rama VII). She outlasted his

10-year reign but, unlike her younger half-sister Queen Savang Vadhana, was not given the title of “Queen

Grandmother” following the crowning of King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII).

The main attraction of the walk was Santiphap Park – “santiphap” (สันติภาพ) meaning ‘peace’. It was opened

on 18th August 1998, commemorating 53 years since the end of the Second World War. Goran Ehren’s

fantastic cover photo shows the park’s central pond and, to the right, the dove symbol of the park in the form

of a bronze sculpture based on a drawing by Pablo Picasso. Aside from the bronze dove, the park is noted for

attracting an impressive array of birdlife. When you’re not listening to the twittering of more than 30 different

species of bird, you can often hear open air concerts being hosted here, making it one of the most musical

parks in Bangkok.

We received an impressive 33 submissions from this walk, totalling 130 photos of Santiphap Park and the

smaller Suan Rom Ratchadevi Park, as well as plenty of other points of interest spotted along the way. We got a

particularly impressive number of shots of a row of shoes hung up to dry – enough to make a spread on page

72. We hope that you enjoy them and feel inspired to take part in our upcoming photo project.

Have fun,

Mark, Chutima, and Ben.

Magazine Editor

Ben Reeves

Photo Walk Coordinator

Mark A. Hathaway

Administrative Support

Chutima Panjapan

Logo Design

Ubonpayom Ongsara

Front Cover Photo

Goran Ehren

Group Photo

Chutima Panjapan

Back Cover Photo

Vlad Zubankov

© 2025 Bangkok Photographers Group

All rights reserved.

Bangkok Photo Walks is a not-for-profit

publication created by the members of

the Bangkok Photographers Group. All

photographs herein are copyrighted by

their respective creators and published

only with their permission.

A Tale of Two Parks

BANGKOK PHOTO WALKS

March 2025 Issue 110