The story behind this park is shadier than the plantings. Chuvit Kamolvisit, the benefactor of the park, was Bangkok’s biggest massage-parlour owner. He was arrested in 2003 for illegally bulldozing, rather than legally evicting, tenants off the land where the park now stands (between Soi 8 and Soi 10). With all the media attention, he sang like a bird about the police bribes he handed out during his career and became an unlikely activist against police corruption. Chuvit later ran unsuccessfully for Bangkok governor in 2004 and successfully for the Thai parliament in 2005 and 2011. This park was one of his early campaign promises. It’s a pretty green patch in a neighbourhood lean on trees.