Bangkok has a really great park right in the middle of the city. Photos of the people and animals of Lumpini Park

Lumpini Park is best known for the huge monitor lizards that stroll the lawns and swim in the ponds. It's really a sight to see, those giant lizards doing as they please, often just steps away from the thousands of humans who use the park everyday. I've been many times, and a few days ago I had plans to meet a friend for dinner after she finished work in the nearby Silom neighborhood, so I decided to go early and walk around the park.

I was mostly shooting video as I'd like to make a short informational travel video about it. I saw plenty of monitor lizards, unfortunately, they were almost all swimming. They are certainly cool in the water, but they are even cooler and more menacing when they lumber over the grass. One thing I did see that shocked me though, was lizards in trees. I had no idea they could even climb, and I saw one that must have been eight or nine meters up. The thought that they can also climb is sort of terrifying.

I think I'll hold off on making the video for a while until I have more good dragon footage. I did click over into photo mode too, as I almost always do, and got a few nice shots. One captures a lizard in a tree, another swimming, although they're mostly submerged when they're in the water so it's not great. It is cooler on video. I also got some good shots of the old men playing Chinese checkers in the park (unsure the actual name of this game).

Anyway, here they are, thanks for reading :)

Yeah, they swim... and apparently they can climb the freakin trees!