Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand December 2014 / January 2015 | Page 26

HEALTH & well-being

SWEAT & THE CITY
AN EXPAT FROM THE UK, AND NO OTHER
THAN OUR LOVELY COVER GIRL, LETS
US IN ON HER FIRST EXPERIENCE RUNNING
IN THE BANGKOK HEAT AT LUMPINI PARK.

W

hen my husband pulled
out his running shoes
on our third evening
as Bangkok expats, I did a double take. Are you going running?”I asked, aghast. The move
and the jet lag must have rendered
the poor man incapable of rational
thought.”You do realise the air here
is basically a boiling, polluted soup?
You'll die!"
"I'll be fine," he said,
nonchalantly, terminating
the discussion with the donning
of headphones and skipping
out of our new apartment like
a lamb to the slaughter.
As it turns out, my husband
didn't die. Granted, he came home
sweatier than a sexpat leaving
Nana Plaza but having had a great
run and with some amusing tales
to tell.
It's fair to say that Thailand's capital
might not immediately strike
you as a city for running. With
some of the world's most trafficclogged roads, assault course
pavements, and relentless
humidity, it seems far better suited
to indoor pursuits—preferably with
the air con set to 'arctic'.
It was quite the turn
up for the books when I found
26 WANDERLUST

myself, a few days after
my husband’s tropical run,
at the gates of Lumpini Park in full
Olympic Lycra, iPod in hand,
about to head off for my inaugural
Bangkok canter.

CURIOSITY HAD GOT
THE BETTER OF ME.
Tranquil domain of basking monitor lizards and languid park guards
by day, 'Suan Lum' is buzzing with life
by evening.  After the punishing Thai
sun has