Baiyoke Tower, Thai Food and Bangkok's Bazaar

• Bangkok's Bazaar

The market is located just in front of the Royal Palace in Bangkok near the banks of the Chao Phraya River. In the market counters also sell all kinds of charms. And they only sell talismans and not sell anything else. There are wooden charms, made of metal, made of precious stones or gold. Both sides of the sidewalk also have the sale of charms for the common people.

I do not believein charms or spells, but the people who come to the bazaar also show that they trust the power of the amulets that are sold here. Later when coming back to Vietnam, I learned more about Thai charms as follows:

Thai people, especially young people, have a habit of tattooing and wearing charms. They believe that wearing a statue of a Buddha or a statue of a monk in the neck will bring them luck and safety. King Rama V is also believed to be sacred and people also make amulets with the image of the king. Thais wear charms with the prayers of not being dangerously ill, unlucky or unfortunate. Thai charms will also help them to be rich, loved by many and successful in business. 

•  A statue of a Buddha - the most common talismans

The most common talismans are statues of Buddhas or statues made of metal, ivory, wood or other materials. The charm helps the wearer be loved by so many people named "pit ha ha". It was a man with two arms covered his face. The size of the charm varies from 3cm to 4cm, but it can be as small as 0.5cm or as large as 10cm. The back of the enchanter has engraved letters or images that the Thais believe will bring value to the charm. The price of a spell can range from a few dollars to $ 100,000 depending on the monk and its sacredness. Not necessarily as old as the charm, but also depends on the power of the charm. Because of the price so many people today have made the spell to sell. Overseas Thai such as in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, USA ... also believe in amulets and have websites for sale. Thai charms made by temples should be blessed. Later, the buyer should not spell anywhere else, otherwise will lose sacred.

In old days, the monks were donated to higher monks in the temple. After this many people believe too so there are new amulets. This is the market just in front of the Royal Thai Palace near the banks of the Chao Phaya River that we strayed today. Whether the sacred here is sacred or not, but there are many shops and even young monks to buy, the business sector is also growing. This market, you can find other, unorthodox charms as mentioned above, which can be a little mystical, unusual like a stone, a tree, tiger teeth, wild boar ... Other charms are Khmer words called mantras written in seconds and then wrapped in small tubes. They also have magazines to discuss the talismans, the sacred things the giver has as well as how to distinguish real charms, charms.

Having a spell then you have to know how to keep and protect, not to mess around or to touch the stranger. Her guide at the Great White Palace came to show us the pieces of jewel she wore on her neck and said it was her charm. Ever wondered if she could cast a spell on her charm, she quickly drained the spell into her jersey and said not to touch her charm, afraid of the divine.

Talking about the charm I remember when I was young, my father or go to the temple . It is a rope of five colors that is made into rings to wear on the neck. Every few months, when this rope is flying color, my father went to another temple to fiber to wear. Until high school wear worn. My grandfather also took the coconut skull cut in place of three holes to make a round piece with three holes diameter of about 4cm. It is a charm for us to rid evil spirits and diseases. Vietnamese people in the past also believe in such things. Today, no one will wear the skirt or coconut skins as well.

• Thai fruits are not boring

Many types of tropical fruits for me to eat!!! 

During our trip to Thailand, there is one thing that we like the most: eating tropical fruits. After leaving the market, we went to Nam about 50 meters to the market selling food and fruit. This is the market where we bought the fruit a few days before visiting the Great Palace. My girlfriend bought 1 kilogram of mandrake only 25 baht and 1 kilogram of rambutan 100 baht. These juices are so sweet and have a different odor in the United States. Also rambutan is delicious, but her sales "heresy". She is a beautiful rambler on the outside, the fruit in the interior. When she did not pay attention, she picked up many bad fruits. Therefore, about one third of rambutan fruits are damaged and discarded. Only fresh fruits are juicy.

After buying the fruit, we returned to the hotel to rest. Along the way, we also bought two delicious porcelain bananas, which cost only 20 baht. Nearly 4pm, we will start our afternoon program.

• Visit the tallest building in Bangkok

This afternoon we take the tram to Prethburi station and then take a taxi to visit the highest tower in Bangkok. Tell the driver of Baiyoke he does not know where. Twice this is also discouraged. To the third taxi he is good old man. He knew immediately and drove us to the right place where the car was cheap, only 50 baht. Experience, want to go to Baiyoke, you say go Pratunam (nearby, walk to). Pratunam is more popular and every taxi driver knows it.

To where we see in this area the market is crowded. People are trading over the curb. Commodities like ground up, countless and  more countless. Every store is full. Leather goods, clothing, footwear, video tapes .... Buyers are also crowded. The atmosphere here is fun, exciting. But first you have to make way to the tower to watch the scene was not.

Looking around, we saw two towers also named Baiyoke, a low one high. Of course, visit the tower. It is the second tower. Under the tower people are also trading lungering does not look luxurious so I'm also a little hesitate to know whether this place or not!

Ask a girl standing near the stairs. She is right and only the ticket. She bought two tickets for 800 baht. Too much for the price here. I remember before going, read the Internet, people say the ticket to the upper floor of this tower only 120 baht. Make sure that the website has not updated with the new price. Each person now costs 400 baht or 13 dollars to visit.

The elevator took us to 77th floor. This floor was the viewing floor. There are tubes to look away but have to put money in. Some Koreans are taking memorial photos. Today the sky is clear so the scene below is beautiful. In the southwest, we can see far from Royal Palace and Chao Phraya. Close to the buildings of Siam Square. High-altitude Skytrain vehicles make the landscape more lively and modern. Looking south east is a lot of buildings. These are hotels, offices ... Underneath the wide roads, cars are stuck. In the North East the scenery is said to be the best because there are many highways intersecting. I am in the Vietnam, so the story is often seen crossroads but the scenery is beautiful because of the view from above and in the city. The North West is less tall, but there is a Victory Monument. The square is quite large so look down from here as well.

 

• Bangkok viewed from the upper floors of Baiyoke Tower. It was such a huge city!!!

Bangkok city view from above looks quite advanced. However, there are still many old houses, but unoccupied labor areas have been not renovated. Bangkok still has many problems to solve especially housing and traffic problems.

The surface of the 77th floor is not very large, with each square of about 30 meters being the same. So five minutes is just one turn. And if you just go sightseeing just 15 minutes only. The ticket I bought was also drinking so we continued the lift up to the 83rd floor. There was a water shop. We gave the ticket to the waiter to enjoy two glasses of delicious fruit juice. In addition, they also give themselves a package of popcorn to sip and enjoy the scenery.

And after drinking, we continued to climb up to the 84th floor. Outside, there was a corrugated metal deck. This floor can rotate 360 degrees so that visitors can just stand still and see enough scenes below. A rotation of only 5 minutes. Standing on this floor listening to the wind whimpering is also slightly ... dizzy.

See the top game Baiyoke Tower said. Then we line up the elevator down to the ground to go shopping. The sales area here is very attractive and awaits us below. But to summarize, recall some data of the highest tower in Southeast Asia Baiyoke.

• Some data about the Baiyoke II Tower in Bangkok

Tower 304 meters high (equivalent to 182 people overlap - if including the antenna column will be 328 meters high). This is the tallest tower in Thailand and Southeast Asia (but compared with other high buildings in the world, this building is th ... thirty). The tower was constructed of high-strength reinforced concrete so it was honored to be the tallest structure in the world in this category. The tower has 85 floating floors and 3 basements. The total area used is 179,000 square meters equivalent to 30 football pitches.

The hotel rooms are from floors 22-74. 77th floor is used for sightseeing. 83rd floor is the place to sit and drink water. The 84th floor has a 360 degree outdoor floor for guests to enjoy the view of Bangkok. One spin is 5 minutes. There are 2,060 steps from the bottom to the top. It takes more than an hour for the ladder to reach the top.

The foundations of the building are laid on 60-meter deep shafts into the ground (equivalent to 22 storeys).

The construction began in 1990 and was completed in 1997, while the antenna was built in 1999.

Hotel room rates are free: only $ 100 a night. Some people like to stay here but some people do not like it and criticize the room but the service is not good.

• Pratunam and its vicinity

Leaving the tallest building in Bangkok, we crept into a bustling neighborhood in the immediate vicinity. Here goods are countless. Items in stores, out of doors, in alley. There are all kinds of leather goods, shoes ... to clothes, handbags, souvenirs, pirated DVDs ... The quality of goods I see is only average, so the price is "soft". Consequently, shoppers are free to choose from the popular to the tourist who wants to buy cheap goods. Most sellers know enough English to trade. When you buy here, you have to pay the price because this is like flea market means buy and sell. Bid is to buy, then buy is not returned. The sellers here speak well and skillful payment is also easy: the baht is also money that money is not implying.

• I love Thai Food

Apart from commodities, eating is equally bustling. There are many popular restaurants here. There are many trolleys on the dirt road. They sell noodles, rice ... They sell barbecue, fried fish ... The price is cheap, about 25-30 baht each (1 to 1.5 dollars).

The smell of food is very fragrant, but the hygiene is not guaranteed. However, crowded Bangkok residents still sit by the roadside eating natural food. Only the visitors like us are a little bored. Although attractive and also want to enjoy but fear of abdominal pain, diarrhea.

Going to see people shopping between the shops in Pratunam is an unforgettable memories of our trip.

• Pratunam goods full of sugar

We went to the Pratunam shopping mall to find a place where air conditioning was a bit warm because it was so hot outside. Inside, there are 6 storeys with lots of shops selling all sorts of goods like outside. Walking from the afternoon until now tired legs. Seeing a massage parlor that advertises foot massage for 99 baht. We were so cheap so we sat for some squeeze.

The children here are doing business well and squeeze the legs are very good. However, the towel used in this service is yellowish turpentine that looks too hygienic. The lotion is not clean or not. At night when I went home, when I was taking a shower, I used soap to wash my legs two or three times because I felt ... still dirty.

So, after spending time in Pratunam, we will continue down to the Khao San area to see the people backpacking and having fun there, but the lady lamented and said it was too far to get a taxi to the hotel. bathing, rest, stopping a day excursion is quite exciting in Bangkok.

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