Baiyoke Tower and Fruit Musings

(Written Wednesday, May 23)

This evening after work, I went to Baiyoke Tower, the tallest building in Bangkok, to admire the city from above. Instead of riding the Skytrain, I decided to get some exercise and check out the street markets by walking. In some ways this was a good idea: I got some good photos and saw some interesting things for sale. But by the time I got to the Tower, I was incredibly hot, and felt a bit faint from the heat radiating around my body. Since I still have blisters, I wore sandals instead of tennis shoes, but even my feet felt like they were burning. My hair was spiky from the damp heat, and little points of hair kept poking the back of my neck as if someone behind me was trying to get my attention. The people behind me must have wondered why I kept whirling around with an annoyed look on my face.

It costs 200 Baht to ride a small glass elevator up to the 77^th floor of the Tower. On this floor, there is a view of the city through a wall of windows, a restaurant, and a few souvenirs for sale. But I was determined to make it to the very top, so got on a second small elevator that took an alarmingly long time to climb just a few floors. During that time, I contemplated what it would be like to be stuck in an elevator that high up. I also contemplated what it would be like to plummet that far down. This helped pass the time until the elevator decided to let me go and opened its doors at the 83^rd floor—the last floor before the outside deck above.

The 200 Baht entry fee includes a free drink at the top floor, so I ordered something called a “Rooftop Cocktail.” The drink was neon green, a tad sour, and way too sweet. I gulped some in hopes of cooling off a bit, then walked up the final set of stairs to the rotating observation deck. Here, only a metal grate separates observers from Bangkok below. I stuck my camera through the squares of the fence and took a bunch of pictures. It would have been very cool to get a 360-degree panorama photograph, but I didn’t have the patience to take pictures at regular intervals for the entire time it takes the slow-moving deck to make a full rotation.

As I arrived at the top, the sun was just beginning to set, so I took a few shots of the sunset, then decided to wait and take a few pictures of the view at nighttime as well. So I leaned against the grate and watched the city circle by a couple of times as I enjoyed the cool breeze. Although my sunset photos turned out well, after it was officially dark, camera couldn’t quite capture the city lights. I’ll have to return someday with a fancier camera.

Despite the late hour and the unfamiliar part of town, I was able to retrace my steps and arrive back home safely. On the way, I bought meat-on-a-stick—probably the most common street food sold in Bangkok. It (whatever it was) was tasty, although a bit greasy.

After meat-on-a-stick, the second most common street food is probably fruit. Carts with sliced watermelon, mango, apple, and other fruits displayed on beds of crushed ice are everywhere at all hours of the day. And piles of whole fruits are being sold on nearly every block and in every store. My goal is to try at least one of every fruit I can’t recognize. So far I have had two unknown fruits that were both very tasty. The first was a little larger than an apple, with a consistency kind of like an unripe pear, and a flavor like a mix of pear and apple. It came pre-peeled (so I’m not sure what the skin or rind looks like) with notches in the top, so pieces could be broken off, and sprinkled with sugar and hot red pepper. Yummy. The second fruit is difficult to describe. It’s a smaller fruit than the first, around the size of a plum, but oblong. Each piece of fruit is made up of three flat pieces that grow together, but are easy to pull apart to eat separately. Each of the smaller pieces has a pit in the center. The fruit is incredibly sweet and delicious—my favorite edible discovery in Thailand so far.