Ride bikes & plant trees @ Khao San Road

Thanks to my friends Alby and Mandy, we have organized another meetup dedicated to planting trees in Bangkok, Guerrilla style, while riding bicycles ! The greatest way to cure your hangover !


You can find more pictures and infos on this event here :
- FB group page
- Meetup event 
These pages will allow you to get in touch with us for the next events, don't forget to register to receive email alerts. Join the fun, share the love ! ^^


It was really fun, 10 adults + my son had the greatest time together fruiting up Bangkok ! We started late because of the rain, but water pouring down on us did not hinder our determination to green things up !

About 20 trees of all kinds were planted on that morning, around Khao San Road, including facing the FAO on Phra Athit Road. We've been photographed, helped and encouraged by several people and shop owners on our path. Several trees have found care givers ! :D


There is another meetup coming up soon, this time we'll meet at Ekamai. Bring your kids !

 Still wet, planting the first tree @ FAO, Phra Athit Road

 Papayas grow well on  the streets !

 An expert checking if things are being done properly

 Lots of people = lots of fun !

 Make way for young seedlings !

 We inspired some people, and almost got free noodles...

This lady left her street cart to help us :)

Ride bikes & plant trees @ Lumpini Park

Thanks to my friends Alby and Mandy, we have organized the first meetup dedicated to planting trees in Bangkok, Guerrilla style, while riding bicycles ! The greatest way to participate to car-free day !


You can find more pictures and infos on this event here :
- FB group page
- Meetup event
These pages will allow you to get in touch with us for the next events, don't forget to register to receive email alerts. Join the fun, share the love ! ^^


About 15 trees were planted on that morning, around Lumpini park, including facing Netherlands Embassy and Alliance francaise. We also planted a Mango tree on Sukhumvit Road, the first of its kind ! 

It was really fun, 6 adults + my two sons had the greatest time together fruiting up Bangkok !

Getting ready to rock !

Mandy and Ek at work

 United we stand !

 

 Extending security guards veggie garden with fruit trees ! ^^

 Little forest opposite to Netherlands embassy

 The first Mango tree I know of on Sukhumvit road !

(just below BTS Ploen Chit)

T19 - Plant flower trees for the military !

Yesterday, I planted a nice flower tree next to the military command gates. We all know that soldiers need flowers more than anyone, even the more so when they take over the Power and are super-busy cleaning corruption and chasing the corrupted. That is no mean feat in Thailand !

The largest tree I've planted so far

Tree : T019

Specie : Thevetia peruviana - รำเพย

Location : Thanon Sri Ayudthaya

Notes : Planting dedicated in honor to General Prayuth for the big clean-up on corruption ; planted opposite to military base gates

I was lucky to find a rather tall Thevetia peruviana (Yellow oleander) that was longing to be replanted where it could grow tall and be seen by all. Its beautiful yellow flowers are a perfect color match with the Thai Monarchy, that the army has sworn to protect (the constitution is currently up-held, except the article related to the Monarchy).

Yellow flowers for the Monarchy

I had noticed a very nicely located spot, just opposite from the main gate of the base where the corrupted and allegedly corrupted are kept for some time for investigation, and then released. The tree can thus be seen by anyone being driven away in their big mercedes, over their drivers shoulders. I wish flowers will help them lighten up their minds from their daily preoccupations  such as pondering on how to escape from a well-deserved punishment once again.

Perfect location - before planting

Can be seen by all who drive through the gate

 The precedent tree had died a long time ago, so the stump was rotten and i could pull it by hand effortlessly, just like rooting out bad practices, and then plant a lively healthy tree to grow over that dirty past.

Have the old rotten stumps make way to healthy growing beauty

กองบัญชาการกองพลที่ 1 รักษาพระองค์

Hashtags :

#soldiersneedflowers #flowersforsoldiers #flowersfightcorruption #guerrillatreeplanting #guerrillaformilitary #yellowflowersrule

T18 - Plant a tree at Democracy Monument under Martial Law !

Tree : T018

Specie : Plumeria sp. - ลีลาวดี 

Street : Thanon Dinso (Pencil street), opposite Satri Witthaya School - ถนน ดินสอ

Notes : Martial law, excellent soil, friendly neighbours

Traffic was just as bad as I expected, but the streets around Democracy Monument where surprisingly really quiet. It looks that the protesters' stages nearby have been deserted. A few sand-bag barricades here and there block the way, but not many soldiers in sight, I guess the action must be somewhere else...

 Sandbag barricades on Ratchadamnoen Rd

Cosy spot in view of Democracy Monument 

As usual, people around the spot started chitchatting with us. The lady owning a food stall right in front of the tree was quite happy : "every other spot has grown up trees and shade, but not us !". Raining season having begun, nature will take care of itself and she won't even have to do anything, though she seemed quite motivated to water and take care of the new tree.

What pleased me the most though were these two street kids, obviously used to spending their days on the streets, begging etc, who came to us first and picked-up right away what we were doing. They were very supportive : "Yeah, cool, planting some trees is good for everyone, you guys rock !". 20 seconds later there were gone with big smiles !

Happy tree

I must confess this tree is most likely not a good choice for a sidewalk : frangipani trees have a rather wide shape, with branches spreading from the trunk from quite low when te tree is young. So well, it might not stay there for very long...

 Albert at work again !

Albert joined me after travelling by bus all night back from Chiang Rai, where he was demolishing earth buildings damaged during the earthquakes last week. 

After planting T18, we went back to T16 which is growing quite fine and watered it as well.

T16 growing just fine :)

Some guy put up a fence next to it, and it is also protected by the electric box. Will this tree be left enough time to reach the wires above ?

T016 - Planting a tree next to a temple in a Bangkok street

Tree : T016
Specie : Sterculia foetida - สำโรง
Street : Thanon Phra Sumen 
Notes : Talked 10 minutes with a retired police officer on the virtues of trees and nature in general

After last post, Albert contacted me to do some guerilla tree planting together. He is quite an incredible guy : he came all the way here on his bicycle from  . . . Berlin ! It was a great honnor and pleasure to roam the streets around Khao San Road area with our bikes (mine has an engine) to find some right spots.

I had 2 Sterculia foetida left, T16 and T17

To my great great great shame, I post this only now, more than 6 months later...

Albert at work in Bangkok

 Digging compacted soil with a toy (I won't call that tiny spade a tool) is not easy. One often finds rocks, broken bricks, glass shards, etc... I totally forgot to warn Albert (I use gloves), and when digging, he almost instantly got a huge blister that burst inside his hand.

Attention to detail

There was some sort of a fair in the temple nearby (Wat Bavorn Niwet), most likely a funeral of someone important if I believe the colors of the cloth hanging on the wall, many neatly dressed people went in and out the temple. We have been quite popular, with students taking our pictures, an old lady clapping her hands at us, touts coming for a word or two, and a retired police officer chatting about how important it is to keep and plant more trees...

Watering after planting

Albert went back a few times to care for the tree, put more rocks around it to protect it, water it... Last time I passed in the street the tree was healthy and growing ! I'll publish pictures one day...

T015 - Planting 'Sterculia foetida' in Bangkok street

Tree : T015

Specie : Sterculia foetida - สำโรง

Street : Thanon Khao - ถนนขาว

Notes : as usual : tree doomed to terrible fate

On the way to work this morning, with a friend, we stopped to plant this nice little sapling :

Good care makes beautiful trees

Sterculia foetida

 Traffic was dense, as usual at this spot. One guy was stuck next to us, opened this window and asked us what we were doing, smiling. After we told him, he smiled wider, cheered us, and went away. A pick-up driver opened his window and shouted 'Thank you !' as traffic was carrying him to his duties.

Close-up on the recent local massacre (Alstonia scholaris - พญาสัตบรรณ)

Planting a tree here is, on the sidewalks of Bangkok, is not really a favor we're doing the tree. The above picture illustrates the fate they all have to endure periodically. To no avail, if you ask me. We can also see a municipality worker using a watering can (yes, a watering can) to spread herbicide all over the place (pavement and wall still wet on the right). We asked him to spare our sapling, to which he answered something like : "it's safe, I already done that spot".

We can still find on google street a reminder of what the street used to look like until about one month ago. Let me display these pictures, including a picture showing our unfortunate friend above, while still in all its glory.

Same street before they cut the trees
 Again, with T015 planting spot.

See you soon for some other street guerilla tree planting.

Quick update

Hmmm, it's been quit a while I haven't updated this blog, and I must confess, planted any trees in the streets.

All of the 14 trees I planted (I will update the old pictures if only I can find them) have been replaced by the municipality by more 'conform' trees : same as their neighbors, about 3m high, standard municipal tree procedure.


Something tells me though, that these trees have been replanted because I did take the spot first. Otherwise, I keep passing daily in front of 'empty spots' that are not being repopulated, pretty much everywhere in Bangkok.

So well, is it worth planting trees that will shortly be crushed under bigger standard ones ? Is my intervention useful somehow ? Am I just silly to sometimes indulge this weird hobby ?

I will let you decide...

Anonymous benevolence

Some time ago, I had planted T007, and then went as usual several times to water it, but it nonetheless died during the hot season. But before it died, I came to the spot several times after someone else had watered the tree. And then, one day, I came to water the tree as usual, with my water bottle in hand, only to find that a man was already watering it ! He was not very old, and he could have been one of the numerous tuk-tuk drivers who park and work nearby.

So I crouched and started to pour water on the tree with him. We smiled a bit, didn't look too much at each other, we were a bit shy. We just exchanged a few words on how hot the weather was. Nothing more. But we shared the feeling and were feeling good.

Well, despite our care, the tree didn't make it. So I later removed the pieces of wood I used as stakes, and didn't go back there until last week. As I rode past, I had a look at the spot, and couldn't believe my eyes ! So i came back later with my camera :

A new young tree !

A beautiful young coconut tree !

How long ago was it planted ? Was it planted by the tuk-tuk driver ?

I don't know...

What I know, is that someone around the neighbourhood has thought that the raining season has come already, and that planting a tree in that empty spot is not such a bad idea. They just did it, just like that...

This gives me wings : I am not alone !

But I knew that already : a few people have contacted me, and a few friends have shown interest, and we will soon be planting more trees together. Another friend who lives near the forest will send me more seeds. There are indeed plenty of people who want to do something, and it's easy to just do it !

So, I had been busy, and was waiting a bit more, and other bad excuses to postpone the 'raining season planting spree', but I cannot ignore such a sign :

Let the planting season begin !

T009 - Planting details

Location :          Thanon Pitsanulok

Specie :          Neem tree (Azadirachta indica) สะเดาไทย

Size :                40 cm

Ref :              T009

Date :            June 15th, 2010

Observations :  Replacement of T002, next to T001

before

 

10 minutes later

Hot season freshness in the forest

We have now begun the hot season in earnest, and I put on hold planting more trees : they'd just die. We have been lucky to have air breezes lately, but still, the heat is a bit overwhelming.

One of the reasons I plant trees in Bangkok, is that trees and plants do help a great deal to reduce temperatures. I experienced it last WE, while trekking the deep deep forest of the south (Khao Luang National Park), where temperatures where easily 5 to 10 degrees lower than in the village ! We were also blessed with rain, and while is not easy or comfortable to walk on steep slipery slopes when wet, I was quite happy to finally feel COLD !

If you are bored of the usual 2hrs boring touristic trek, and want to feel the real thing, sleep in the forest, try out some new paths, learn about trees and plants, it's time to go on a trip with P Gan

I cant resist posting a few pictures of real pristine rain forest, and some amazing trees, hoping we can have such beautiful trees one day in Bangkok streets...

The forest is so fresh under the trees canopy !

Rain forest at its best

Huge healthy trees. How different from Bangkok street trees !

Trees are a vital support for other plants : vines, orchids, ferns...

The large number of trees in the forest attracts rain and water. Streams and rivers dry quickly if all trees have been cut. Here, we can drink clean water from the streams wherever we go, even in the heart of the hot season.

Good to see trees rejuvenated with rain and air humidity

Of course, I could not go in the forest without picking up a few seeds for Bangkok !

Flying seeds (right = Dipterocarpus sp.)

I picked up about a kilogram of different seeds in these 3 days. The fresh and soft ones have been crushed in my bag. I'm not sure whether I can germinate them all, and some of them could be from vines. We will see :)

Of course, I did not take any tree from the national park. But I sure took a few saplings from the village when we got back :D

They joined the other trees in my improvised nursery, waiting for the raining season just as eagerly as I am...