Lumphini Park is Bangkok's most popular green space, which is saying something in a city with one of the lowest per-capita ratios of parkland of any metropolis in the world. Opened in 1925 on 142 acres of royal property, it takes its name from the birthplace of Buddha in Nepal.

Arrive before eight in the morning, and you'll find it full of exercise groups, runners and people eating breakfast. By midday, the heat clears everyone out, leaving the park to its monitor lizards, which can grow to an impressive size. By evening, the crowds return.

VoiceMap's self-guided tours use Lumphini as a lens on Bangkok's relationship with colour, royalty and public life, explaining why the elderly morning walkers you see are often dressed in a single colour, and tracing how 142 acres of royal land became the city's green lungs.