On the Khlongs in Bangkok and Relaxing before Malaysia

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I was going to title this post with the word ‘chilling’ rather than ‘relaxing’ but given the heat and humidity of Bangkok, I decided that would not be appropriate.



I managed to sleep surprisingly well last night given the jet lag, and I’ve managed to make the 5-hour time zone adjustment quite quickly. I’ll be going forward another hour tomorrow in Malaysia but that shouldn’t be a problem. Today though, I got up early this morning to go for a walk along some Khlongs, or canals, around the same area as my aunt’s house where I’m staying but a short drive away.

These are artificial waterways that are flanked with vegetation of different sorts including trees, reeds, and paddyfields, so they attract quite a bit of interesting birdlife for a city. There are also raised concrete walkways going along the sides of the Khlongs giving quite good access. It’s certainly quite an interesting birding site and not a typical touristy location. I saw quite a number of species, though surprisingly not a single species of kingfisher, including the first lifer of the trip and quite a nice lifer too – Lesser Whistling Ducks.

After walking around the Khlongs in the morning as it started to get a bit hot with reduced bird activity (although I got an excellent view of a Yellow Bittern on the way out) so we headed to a mall for lunch and to wander around a bit before returning to my aunt’s house in the afternoon. The mall was air conditioned throughout, so I suppose I was chilling then, although it would have been more enjoyable without the music of Ed Sheeran and his ilk playing throughout.

I wandered around a bit in the local area after that and got everything ready for heading off to Malaysia tomorrow. It’s quite an early flight though and I’ve got an alarm set for 02:30 tomorrow morning, which isn’t ideal, but at least I get into KL at a good time.

Once I start the more intense travelling in Malaysia, these posts will probably get more condensed as I see more things and have spare relaxing time, but I’m enjoying the relaxation while it lasts here in my aunt’s house and I have actually built in plenty of time in the schedule in Malaysia.



New Birds Seen:

Racket-tailed Treepie

Indian Cormorant

Scaly-breasted Munia

Chinese Pond-heron

Vinous-breasted Starling

Asian Koel

Pink-necked Green-pigeon

Dusky Minivet

Red-wattled lapwing

Lesser Whistling Duck

Baya Weaver

Little Grebe

Little Heron

Paddyfield Pipit

Greater Coucal

Zitting Cisticola

Cinnamon Bittern

Red Avadavat

Common Iora

White-browed Crake

Pacific Reef Egret

Spot-necked Dove

Bright-headed Cisticola

Yellow Bittern



Changeable Crested Lizard

Asian Common Toad

Asian Grass Frog



That brings me up to 56 birds that are new for the year list with 59 species for these two days in Bangkok which I don't think is too bad considering how I've just stayed in the local area.

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