21.12.2009
We planned to visit the Grand Palace, Chinatown and wholesale fashion market at
Pratunam. But Solomon requested to visit Siriraj Medical Museum and
the IT mall Panthip Plaza. Hence, I rearranged my itinerary which made
our trip to Bangkok very unique.
We would visit Siriraj Medical Museum in the morning. After that, we
would take our lunch at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel and visit the Information
Technology (IT) mall Panthip Plaza in the afternoon.
Siriraj Medical Museum
We went to Siriraj Hospital by taxi. It took about twenty minutes.
The taxi was friendly. We had a pleasant chat on the way. He said
that the King was in Siriraj Hospital when he was not well.
The taxi driver was glad to hear that we would visit the Museum.
He told us to way to walk to the hospital when we got off the taxi.
We were not familiar with the hospital and had to keep
asking people to reach there.
We met a lady who put on green uniform and she brought us to the building
where the museum was.
When we entered the building and asked the staff where the museum was,
the lady in green uniform appeared beside us again.
I never expect she was so kind to lead us all the way.
When we were paying for the admission fee, the staff told us not to take
pictures in the Museum. Although there was nobody supervising us,
we followed her instruction. The pictures below were scanned from
the leaflet of the Museum. You could have the better view from the
link of the Museum.
Siriraj Medicine Museum consists of the following six museums.
- Ellis Pathological Museum
- Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medicine Museum
- Ouay Ketusingh Museum of History of Thai Medicine
- Parasitology Museum
- Congdon Anatomical Museum
- Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum and Laboratory
The first four museums are located at Adulayadejvikrom Building
and the last two at Anatomy Building.
We went to the Adulayadejvikrom Building first.
Ellis Pathological Museum displays a variety of exhibits. They included the
evolution of pathology in Thailand, human organs and tissues in
various important diseases. Such as various types of common
cancers, coronary heart disease, strokes, disease of liver,
kidney, etc.
Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medicine Museum
exhibits many objects from homicide, suicide and accident cases,
such as skulls, bones, preserved organs, preserved bodies of the
notorious murderer Si-Ouey as well as some blood stained clothes from
Nualchawee's case.
Ouay Ketusingh Museum of History of Thai Medicine
exhibits the history and evolution of Thai traditional medicine,
mannequins portraying birth, aging, sickness and death,
instruments for concoction of traditional medicine,
traditional massage, and herbal medicine.
Parasitology Museum
displays many kinds of parasitic organisms including roundworm,
pinworm, hookworm, whipworm, tapeworm and fluke.
Preserved organs with parasitic diseases are displayed.
Models of the life style of people who can be infected with parasites
are also demonstrated.
We then walked to the adjacent Anatomy Building.
Congdon
Anatomical Museum is located at the third floor and
Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum and Laboratory
at the first floor.
A variety of exhibits are display at the Congdon Anatomical Museum.
They are human development from zygote through embryo and fetus, various types of
congenital anomaly, conjoined twins, anatomy of every organ system of human,
normal and abnormal. The most fantastic specimen is whole body dissection of
the nervous and arterial system.
The display of Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum is divided into two parts.
Part One - Human evolution begins from primate materials. Then the display
continues with prehistoric artifacts and materials from historical periods.
Part Two - the evolution of living things on earth begins from the family tree
of the animal kingdom and includes examples of fossil specimens found
in Thailand and other countries.
There were parents visited the Museum with their children.
Those children were not seemed afraid with the exhibits.
I was not frightened in looking at the preserved bodies of adults and babies,
as well as the various organs.
I felt very sad in watching those lovely faces of the babies.
It was very upset to see the pieces of body of the abortion.
The toys and candies placed in front of the babies almost
made me cry.
The smokers might like to see the display of the lungs of a smoker.
It was wonderful to see the whole body dissection of the nervous and
arterial system for a man and a woman.
It is great to establish this Museum by Siriraj Hospital.
It was amusing to see the Thai parents visiting the museum
with their children. I also saw a group of High School children
studying the specimens of human organ system.
Will the Singaporean complaint if there is such an exhibition in Singapore?
Baiyoke Sky Hotel
We took a taxi from Siriraj Hospital to Baiyoke Sky Hotel.
Baiyoke Sky Hotel is the tallest tower in Thailand. The building is
309 meters high with 88 floors.
There are 2060 steps from the bottom to the top.
The piling runs 65 meters deep underground and is
about the height of 22-storey building.
We paid 2,220 Baht for the buffet lunch for three persons.
The fee included 200 Baht each for the admission to the
Observation Deck and the Revolving View Point.
Therefore it was 540 Baht each for the lunch.
That was equivalent to about 30 Singapore Dollars each.
We bought our lunch vouchers at the Lobby. It was the first time
I had been to a hotel lobby located at the 18th floor of the building.
We went to the Observation Deck at 77th floor.
The visitors used to go to the Observation Deck before lunch.
We walked around the Deck and watched the bird's-eye view of
Bangkok City. After that, the visitors will proceed to either
the 76th floor or 78th floor for lunch at Bangkok Sky Restaurant.
We took pictures of Bangkok City. I bought a few post cards
of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel. Then we went to the restaurant
at 78th floor.
It was an International Seafood Buffet Restaurant.
Other than the local Thai dishes, there were also Japanese
food and Western dishes. We took our meals and admired the
scenery outside the windows for about two
hours. It was quite rare that we had such a long hours
to enjoy our lunch.
After our meals, we went to the open-air 360-degree Revolving
View Point at 84th floor. It took about eight minutes to
revolve a round.
Bangkok |
at 6.20 a.m. |
Bangkok |
at 7.00 a.m. |
Baiyoke |
Sky Hotel |
View of Bangkok from 77th |
floor Observation Deck |
|
|
View of Bangkok from 84th |
floor Revolving View Point |
At 84th floor |
At 78th floor |
Exhibits at |
77th floor |
Exterior of 84th to 88th floor |
Exhibit of bored pile at 77th floor |
Fashion Mall and IT Mall
We enjoyed the revolving 8-minute 360-degree view of Bangkok City.
When we got down from the 84th floor, we visited the basement.
It was a garment centre. Most of the shop provided wholesale of
garment. It was hard for us to imagine there was such a grand hotel
on top of those shops.
There were more wholesale shops of fashion around the Hotel.
On the way to Panthip Plaza, we walked through the lanes that were
full of garment shops.
When we came to the main road, we saw Platinum Fashion Mall.
It should be the place where Solomon could find his favourite T-shirts.
The mall was huge and full of garment of various patterns.
We took about two hours walking around the mall.
We were also tired that we took a rest at the fast food restaurant
by taking drink and snack.
We went to Panthip Plaza to look for any computer accessories we
might wish to buy. I came to Panthip Plaza about twelve years ago
with my godson Paitoon. It looked very different now.
After taking our dinner at Panthip Plaza, we walked to the
night market in Pratunam. We took some pictures and later
went back to hotel by taxi.
Wholesale |
Garment Centre |
Day and night views of Platinum |
Wholesale Fashion Mall |
Panthip Plaza |
the IT Mall |
Night Market |
in Pratunam |
