"The building is 309 meters tall, or about the height of 182 people standing one on top of the other. The area inside the building is 179,400 square meters or about 30 football fields. There are 1,740 windowpanes in the building. About the same number of windowpanes which can be used for over 200 townhomes. There are altogether 2,060 steps from the bottom to the top. It takes more than one hour to reach the top. The piling runs 65 meters deep underground, about the height of a 22 storey building."
These interesting facts were taken from a colorful info sheet we grabbed at the counter of "the tallest tower in the Kingdom of Thailand", the Baiyoke Sky Hotel which boasts of 85 storeys in height. It is the 30th in the list of the world's tallest buildings.
I was with my parents, my sis and her hubby, and my sis-in-law. After spending daytime at the ruins in Ayuthaya, and a brief yet unforgettable visit to the Grand Palace that afternoon, we proceeded to the country’s famous tall building which is just within the city of Bangkok. It was nearing dusk when we reached the Observation Deck at the 77th floor. Going up was like riding an airplane, my ears felt the pressure. The elevator shot up and we were there in just a few minutes. The view of the city was awesome, imagine yourself like a big giant looking at those little buildings below and the zigzag of the expressway with those tiny dots of cars. We can't help but take lots of photos; of course, it's my first time to be feeling like I’m on top of the world. : )
Afterwards, we rode again another elevator to the Revolving Roof Deck at the 84th floor. I was so excited like a kid as soon as I stepped on the moving floor. The view below was simply breathtaking as we were turning around the building, and the sky slowly dimmed from grey to dark.
We were only snapped back to reality when my bro, who didn’t join us for our trip that day, called up and asked about dinner. After arrangements were made, the group decided to leave, though I wished we could stay longer. We went down to the 83rd floor to avail of their complimentary drinks and stayed a while in their lounge. We were told that there would be some live band later, but our tummies were already grumbling, and we had to travel to meet my bro and the kids for dinner, so it was time to go.
We joined some tourists in the elevator going down to a lower level. As the doors closed, I could feel the elevator falling down speedily, I watched the floor numbers on top of the door rapidly decreasing – 82, 81, 80, 79… It was then that I sensed a feeling of being here before… like it happened before… and it suddenly dawned on me, it really did. This took place in a dream before which I realized was actually a premonition of my holidays in Thailand. I could just relate some parts of it, though some were not even logical - the big jump to the rocky cliff on the other side was actually a trip to another country, and the feeling of falling down, being inside an elevator… I was still pondering on this as the doors slowly opened and we stepped out… it was just like coming out of a dream.
Ideas are powerful. A train of thought can make or break, build or destroy. The choice is ours. Our ideas become our future. I believe that life’s meaningful lessons are best learned when shared with others.
