Swedish tourist's death puts spotlight on access to Bangkok 'ghost tower'

[Mcffee]

They should demolish this real-life nightmare as soon as possible, this building creates VERY negative energy. But I seriously doubt if there is expertise to demolish a steel inforced monster like this...

[Mcffee]

http://www.justonewayticket.com/2012/12/13/exploration-of-an-abandoned-skyscraper-in-bangkok-the-sathorn-unique-building/

Edited February 8, 2015 by Mcffee

[HooHaa]

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The driver's licence found on the body belonged to Styk Yohanne Kristian, who recently entered Thailand alone

Does the Journalist know that most of the Farangs "entered" Thailand recently because most can't stay longer then 90 days.

+1 for ridiculous comment of the day award.

not sure about that, the dual tier pricing comments are pretty idiotic as well

[HooHaa]

Why anyone would want to traipse to the top of the smelly and unsafe Sathorn Unique Tower is beyond me. Walk around the corner to the Lebua State Tower and say you're going to the Sky Bar for drinks and up you go in a high-speed lift for free. Take your photos with far superior vistas and come back down without having to buy a drink or indeed stop for drinks, albeit quite expensive, and enjoy the view some more.

There is a whole subculture of people that enjoy this sort of thing and they are known as "urban explorers." I for one am completely fascinated by this building and made it to the top a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately I managed to get in for free, the security guard wasn't even around when I entered and my wife actually spoke to him while I was inside before he disappeared again. I went there thinking that it would be harder to gain access since the discovery of the Swedish man and that security measures would have been increased but that wasn't the case, as I say I managed to get into the building without being challenged by anyone and the door in the fence wasn't even locked. I think I was there at the right time but I'm quite confident if the security guard had been around a few hundred baht would have got me inside. I'm planning to go back there soon to have another more detailed look at the building, I think it's absolutely fascinating and the scene you are presented with when you reach the top is like some sort of dystopian film set with some amazing views of Bangkok. That's me sat on the very edge right at the top.

2015-01-20 15.03.07.jpg

this is very much on my to do list. I would think i you cant understand the appeal, you never will.

that said, the attempts at humour i have read on this thread only confirm that thai visa is increasingly frequented by morons.

Edited February 8, 2015 by HooHaa

[trogers]

so why they keep the tower? or why not finish it ?

The 'Owner' is probably a bank or asset management company. This building is an NPL from the Tom Yum Kung crisis of 1997.

[Siam_Sam]

They should demolish this real-life nightmare as soon as possible, this building creates VERY negative energy. But I seriously doubt if there is expertise to demolish a steel inforced monster like this...

Some people have already touched on the reasons why it hasn't been demolished. Anybody who wishes to build a new structure on the same site would have the added cost of demolishing the building first which wouldn't make it cost effective. That's also why the existing building has never been finished, the costs involved in making it habitable again would be astronomical, not only that but you probably wouldn't find any Thai people that would want to live there given their beliefs and what they know about the place. Even if a company did demolish the existing building and erect a new one it's doubtful you'd get any Thai people to live there, they would probably think that the whole site is haunted. I think Thai culture is very much to answer for it not being knocked down because I think that Thai people just accept that some things are never completed. I don't think it creates negative energy either - there are much worse things than that in Bangkok. In my opinion it adds another dimension to the quirky, haphazard nature of Bangkok which is one of the reasons why I love the city.

Why anyone would want to traipse to the top of the smelly and unsafe Sathorn Unique Tower is beyond me. Walk around the corner to the Lebua State Tower and say you're going to the Sky Bar for drinks and up you go in a high-speed lift for free. Take your photos with far superior vistas and come back down without having to buy a drink or indeed stop for drinks, albeit quite expensive, and enjoy the view some more.

There is a whole subculture of people that enjoy this sort of thing and they are known as "urban explorers." I for one am completely fascinated by this building and made it to the top a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately I managed to get in for free, the security guard wasn't even around when I entered and my wife actually spoke to him while I was inside before he disappeared again. I went there thinking that it would be harder to gain access since the discovery of the Swedish man and that security measures would have been increased but that wasn't the case, as I say I managed to get into the building without being challenged by anyone and the door in the fence wasn't even locked. I think I was there at the right time but I'm quite confident if the security guard had been around a few hundred baht would have got me inside. I'm planning to go back there soon to have another more detailed look at the building, I think it's absolutely fascinating and the scene you are presented with when you reach the top is like some sort of dystopian film set with some amazing views of Bangkok. That's me sat on the very edge right at the top.

2015-01-20 15.03.07.jpg

this is very much on my to do list. I would think i you cant understand the appeal, you never will.

that said, the attempts at humour i have read on this thread only confirm that thai visa is increasingly frequented by morons.

It's a wonderful experience but if you are going to go inside then be very careful. Take a torch with you because even in the daytime the stairways are very dark in places. Watch where you are walking because there are no guard rails at all and one slip could be fatal. As you approach the top of the building there is a lot of debris on the stairs. Once you make it to the top there are also holes in the floor where the lift shafts were meant to be so you need to be extremely careful. I've pretty much done every tourist attraction in Bangkok so I'm always looking for new and unusual things to do like this, the other day I went to see an abandoned 747 airplane in Bang Kapi that you can actually get inside of. Bizarre. Up until a few weeks ago there was a derelict shopping mall near Khao San Road that had flooded and was full up with thousands of fish, mainly koi carp. Unfortunately they have taken all the fish away and drained it now so I didn't get to see it. I have located another empty condo building on Phetchaburi Road too but so far I haven't been able to get to the top of that one. There are more on the Rama III Road too.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Siam_Sam

[Topah]

I just came back from this "ghost" tower with 3 friends. We went all the way up at 11pm. They have signs there in Thai language that you will get arrested if you get in. We met one foreign guy at the front picking some wood to his restaurant decoration who said it is impossible to get in but luckily it was late enough that the place was empty. Security just left and we found a very small hole to go in. No people to bribe. Dogs were scary at the front and about midway we heard clamping noise and I think I heard someone coffin. Clamping was not imagination but maybe that coffin was. Need to check the video. We had a GoPro camera and headllamp. I will post a video sometime.

After all it was a great experience but I don't want to do it again. It was very dark and there were holes were you can make yourself drop with wrong decisions. And also around 40th floor you need to find another stairs to climb 10 more floors. I think daytime it is easy to climb. Chinese businessman bought the building for 50 million USD and it will be a hotel. If you want to do the climb, it is still possible but I guess risks are high.