Steve and I decided to take a day trip to see the tallest building in Bangkok. It is called the Baiyoke Sky Hotel. After getting off the BTS we walked through a crowded clothes market, and when I say crowded, I mean, wow, you could hardly move. Luckily I had all my money in my front pants pockets and Steve didn't have his wallet on him that day. I haven't felt unsafe in this city until a few days ago when our driver Somchai told me to watch out for pick pockets and people that will slit your purse to get your wallet. Now I am very cautious.
Back to my story . . . All of a sudden . . . there was this super tall building. The observation ticket counter was right by the front door. It cost us B300 each which was $20 total. We made it to the elevator ahead of a bus load of Japanese tourists. I expected to be crammed into the elevator with them, but the operator let just Steve and I in. I soon found out why. A voice began to describe in English how they built the tower - how tall it is - 328 meters, it has 85 floors and that it opened in 1997. It is Thailand's tallest building and contains the Baiyoke Sky Hotel which is the tallest hotel in Southeast Asia and is the 4th tallest of all hotel structures in the world.
We first went to the observation floor on the 77th floor. It was ok. We took pictures at all 4 points - N, S, E, W and tried to find our apartment building - impossible!
Steve has been working out lately and has really been taking his Thai lessons seriously! Way too seriously!
Steve says I really haven't changed much, but I have been demanding a bit more jewelry lately!
Since we were thirsty and our ticket said were to get a free drink we headed to the elevator to go to the 83rd floor to go to the Roof Top Lounge where our drink was waiting. We were met by . . . "the elevator police"! He said we had to go around the whole observation floor before we could go up to the 83rd floor. We told him we had already gone around the whole perimeter. He said we should go around the observation floor and when we were ready come back to the elevator he would let us go up to the 83rd floor. We gave up and walked around again quickly . He gave us a smile when he saw us - it had been no more than 2 minutes since he'd last seen us. Then he pushed the button to let us up to the 83rd floor. He acted very feminine, I think he was one of those girly-boys.
We finally made it to the 83rd floor! I had water in a plastic bottle shaped like the tower and Steve had a juice. The lounge was a GREAT disappointment! It was so shabby. This building should have been the jewel of this city but the whole thing felt very old with paint peeling, no beauty, no Thai music playing, just a run-down feeling. I didn't like it one bit. We walked up one floor to the revolving floor which maybe is pretty and nice to see at night with all of the lights of the city, but during the day, it was just o.k. We didn't stay long at all.
Linda
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