Sunday, June 15, 2008

Big Bad Bangkok!

We had just two days left for our trip and it was time to live it up – literally!. We were booked in the Baiyoke Sky Hotel – which is considered to be among the tallest buildings in Thailand, and we were to stay in the space zone. We were really looking forward to this even when we planned our trip. We arrived at the hotel and were put up in a room on the 72nd floor. When we entered our room, we were exhilarated, we felt that we had arrived in life! The room was BIG, with huge glass windows and the view from the room of the streets below was out of this world. It was equipped with all the modern amenities one could desire. We paid about 72 USD/person/night for this room and we were charged about 8 USD for our taxi from the airport to the hotel.

The hotel in itself is quite an attraction. It is a shopping complex, hence other than evenings, the corridors are quite crowded. There is a rooftop bar overlooking the whole of Bangkok on the 83rd floor and on the 84th floor is the revolving deck with a 360 degree view of Bangkok. Extremely interesting! Although, getting a seat by the window in the bar in the evening can get quite tricky and the live band can be annoying – it was for me , too loud and cheap for my taste. But then there was Bangkok – all glittering and beautiful, and all below me, so I was not complaining at all.

The way to the observation deck has interesting aliens on the stairway along with pictures of the solar system and the music from 2001 a space odyssey completing the experience. My friend particularly became friendly with one of the aliens as can be seen in this picture!

Between the two Baiyokes – Baiyoke star and Baiyoke sky, a market is set up from 4 in the evening till 11 in the night and we picked up quite some interesting stuff from there. By the time we were done, a complimentary foot massage was awaiting us in the hotel. Since we were staying in the most expensive set of rooms, we had loads of freebies attached to our room. We had a complimentary breakfast, a complimentary foot massage, complimentary fruits and welcome drink and what not. The breakfast was one huge eclectic spread of cuisines.

But the best part was the massage. The spa is open till midnight so after shopping for the entire day a massage can be easily scheduled. The massage was absolutely wonderful and although it was free the masseurs did not rush up on things and gave us the most relaxing massage ever.

As the night fell, we realized that our big fat international holiday was ending. The next day, we took a flight back home, with our bags full of shopping and our minds full of memories we will cherish forever!

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