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You normally have to leave Bangkok behind to stand in a proper flower field. That usually means packing the car, driving a couple of hours out to Lopburi or Saraburi and squinting at a map on the way. Not this time. From September 29-October 9, more than 3,000 sunflowers take over the plaza out front of Samyan Mitrtown on Rama IV Road, right among the high-rises and the office crowd, as part of the complex's Every Light Matters programme, subtitled Because You Matter.
The spot you usually cut across on a lunch break becomes somewhere to actually stop. You wander the rows, get your photos and sit for a while as everyone else does the same. Yellow heads stretch across the concrete, glass towers rise behind them and the Rama IV traffic keeps grinding away a few metres off, so for a moment central Bangkok looks nothing like itself.
Here's a fact for you. Sunflowers don't only grow yellow. More than 15 varieties exist, in white, pink and red too. For this one the organisers pick Pacific Aquara 6, a hybrid chosen for its big blooms and steady growth, which shows up brightest when it's massed together like this.
You don't only look. Spend B500 and one plant comes home with you; spend B1,500 and you leave with a DIY bouquet. A Snap Moment corner puts professional photographers on hand to shoot you among the flowers, then sends you off with the shots.
So if you've been craving a wide-open field without the road trip, we reckon an afternoon here does the job.
The sunflowers bloom at Samyan Mitrtown from September 29-October 9. Head here for more details.