A View From Above: Travel Diary of Observation Decks and Vistas Higher Than Life
Journey Beyond Boarders 🌏 From Thailand to Australia: The Search for the Highest Point
I've always loved heights. There's something about seeing the world from above that never gets old. Here are some of the amazing towers I've climbed in recent years.
📍 Bangkok, Thailand | 24/01/2023
When the Waiter Disappeared and Plastic Took Over the World
During a family vacation in Thailand, we found ourselves at Bangkok's impressive observation tower, gazing at this massive city from a breathtaking height.
We went to a restaurant we'd been waiting a long time to visit, the food was amazing, the dishes delicious, and the experience could have been perfect if only we had good service. Okay, it didn't have to be good, but at least not terrible.
The service was atrocious; they messed up our order, everything took forever, and there was rarely a waiter around. It's a shame that such service overshadows excellent food.
We went to one of the city's observation towers, a relatively new tower that features a glass floor on the 78th floor so you can stretch your fear of heights to the extreme.
The busiest time of day is around sunset, to catch the daytime view, the sunset, of course, and the nighttime view.
The roof is simply breathtaking; you can see the river winding through the crowded city, skyscrapers forming the unique metropolis around it, and a layer of haze enveloping the entire city. If once we thought it was just a day with poor visibility, today we know it's probably the city with the highest air pollution in the world.
One day, we entered a supermarket. And it's mesmerizing, food culture in the East is so different from what I know. Yes, supermarkets in Europe are cool, in Mexico it's pretty American, but here, here it's things I never thought about.
Exotic and special flavors, interesting and diverse combinations. Snacks different from ours, new chocolates, lots of things in a language I don't recognize, and I want to taste to understand.
Everything here is plastic, they waste plastic at an insane level. If at home we save every straw, here when you buy an iced coffee that comes in a plastic cup with a plastic straw covered in paper, they serve it in a plastic bag to make it easy to carry, with a paper napkin.
If you walk the streets during lunch hour, you see all the office workers with plastic bags containing several Styrofoam boxes with the best Thai food, surrounded by several small plastic bags with sauces and side dishes.
In supermarkets, most products are sold in plastic bags, even single items like a single banana in a sealed bag. All to make it easy to transport and take with you to home/work, simply because most Thai homes don't have a kitchen.
That's how it is when food outside is so cheap, it's unnecessary to invest time in cooking and preparation.
📍 Melbourne, Australia | 19/06/2023
A View From Above on Life
During my stay in Melbourne, a city that captured my heart for many long months, I couldn't miss one of its impressive observation decks. I planned to visit several times, but only managed to make it at the last moment.
One of the first attractions, if not the first, that I wanted to do in Melbourne is the Sky Deck. A tower with 89 floors, with a stunning view of the Yarra River and Melbourne's beautiful landscape. I bought a ticket long ago, with a specific date on it, but I didn't manage to go that day.
One day, when I decided to go on one of the weekends, I arrived at sunset, of course, and saw a river-long queue. I waited a few minutes in the freezing wind until one of the workers came out to say that the wait right now is at least half an hour. I thought to myself that I live here, and there's really no reason for me to wait with all the tourists during the busiest hour of the week, if I can come back another day.
It sat in my head for a few months already, every time I wanted to go it suddenly rained or there were a lot of clouds. Yesterday, the forecast said it would rain all day today. Right on my day off. Ugh.
But when I woke up today, I saw a fairly sunny day. I opened Google's weather forecast, no rain expected, and there was a line at the bottom of the page, "Don't miss the sunset! Sunset today is at 5:07." That's it. I'm going to the Sky Deck. Good thing I remembered a week before I leave.
I arrived around 4 in the afternoon, no queue, the view is simply spectacular! I did a round, took lots of pictures, and then just sat by the window and stared at the sun until it disappeared. I thought how powerful it is, how not taken for granted, how much power it has, how beautiful and mesmerizing it is, and how much I had missed it.
When I left on the way back home and thought to myself "brrr colder than usual," I asked Google again, and it indicates that it's 8 degrees outside, but there's wind, so it feels like 5. 5 degrees. 5 !!!!! Sorry, Melbourne, but I didn't sign up for this. I'll come back to you again when it's summer.
📍 Gold Coast, Australia | 11/07/2023
Seventy-Seven Floors of Courage
After saying goodbye to Melbourne, I continued my Australian journey and arrived at the Gold Coast - the golden beach I had always wanted to see. Here, an observation tower experience awaited me, unlike anything I'd experienced before.
Yesterday I left Brisbane. I admit I didn't do too many interesting things there except eat (a lot), including kangaroo and Emu skewers (yes, Australia is the only country where they eat their emblem animals). The meat is too fibrous for my taste, by the way.
I took a train and then a light rail, a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes at the exorbitant price of just one dollar, and arrived at the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is basically the Eilat of Australia. There's a wide beach strip stretching for 74 km. Finally! A real beach! Worthy! Wow, I was so excited, how beautiful it is here!
The night before, I already pounced on the internet to book attractions for the coming days. I saw there's also an observation tower here, with a stair climbing attraction at its peak (floor 77). What, another tower? Another climb? Don't I get tired of it?
I planned my days and saw that it was worth it for me to book the ticket for tomorrow. I looked at the website, and there were tickets only for the sunset hour. I don't tend to pay more just because of the sun, but something here felt like 'let’s go'. I parted with $114 and arrived early, half an hour early, so I went up in the meantime to the regular observation deck like everyone else.
I was amazed to discover that: a. It never gets old b. This is probably the most beautiful city I've seen from above, because it's the only observation tower in Australia that faces the beach.
I felt my eyes clapping for this beautiful view. "How lucky I am to be here, what happiness!"
I went back down, in a group of nine people and two more guides. We had a briefing, again a breathalyzer test, again a metal detector, again I asked to be first. Tied with metal ropes, we went up to the 77th floor in the second fastest elevator in Australia (the first is in the tower in Melbourne), and from there we went out into the open air to climb another 40 meters, about 13 floors.
It was simply amazing!!! The view is hypnotic, and this is definitely one of the coolest experiences I've had in my life. The guide was charismatic, funny, and captivating. he climbs stairs like a little monkey jumping between trees and feels more at home than on a stable floor.
He instructed us to do exercises like standing on the edge of the tower at its peak, leaning backward, and letting go of hands (!!!!!) It was a piece of cake, and I did it without a problem. Yeah right?!? It was incredibly scary! I felt my legs really shaking, and it took me a few minutes until I let go of my hands completely, while he guided and encouraged me, and I kept stopping and telling him "I can't!!!!"
Of course I can, there's even documentation of it, and there are about 40 photos that cost me $50 (when it's deserved, it's deserved) from that afternoon on the tower's peak, when the sunset colored the sky purple. I think it's one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen.
The visibility was excellent, and we could see all the way to Brisbane's towers at a distance of 83 km from us. And also one of the huge houses facing the river, which belongs to none other than the actor 'The Rock' himself. He stays here every few months during the period when they film movies here, like for example 'San Andreas' (now I understand how amazing this coastline is).
📍 Sydney, Australia | 26/12/2024
Touching the Sky - A 360-Degree Tour Above Sydney
After almost two years in Australia, it was time to share my love for this place with my mom, who came to visit me. I brought her to one of my favorite places in Sydney - the famous observation tower.
We chose the combined ticket for the tourist bus - 48 hours that also includes entry to the Sydney Tower Eye and Hop on hop off cruise, though I'm not sure how much we miss seasickness, all for 135 Australian dollars. It seemed worth more than the option of 69 dollars for just 24 hours on the buses.
We decided to reach the tower towards sunset. After a short afternoon rest, we headed towards Westfield Sydney - the huge shopping center that houses the entrance to the tower. The giant structure, which opened in 1981, is one of the city's most identifiable symbols.
At a height of 309 meters, the Sydney Tower Eye is the tallest building in the city and the second tallest in Australia. Interesting to know that the tower was designed to withstand winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, and can move up to 25 centimeters in any direction!
The fast elevator took us up 250 floors in less than a minute. The last time I was here, I filmed a full hour video of the sunset - a hypnotic spectacle of the sun diving into the horizon.
This time I watched the excitement of my mom when she saw the magnificent view for the first time. We did a full 360-degree tour - we saw the famous Harbour Bridge, the stunning Opera House, Darling Harbour with its colorful boats, and Bondi Beach's winding coastline on the horizon.
The binoculars installed around the observation deck allowed us to zoom in on small details - people walking in parks, small boats in the harbor, and even the waves crashing on the beach.
"Let's take a picture by the window," I suggested to Mom. "I'm scared," she admitted. "Don't be scared, Mom, it's completely safe." "Fear is not something controllable," she replied, but still gathered the courage to pose for a photo.
After the uplifting experience at the tower, we looked for a place for dinner. Surprisingly, I found myself returning to the same restaurant from my previous visit. It was again the in-between hour - the cafes already closed and the large restaurants not yet open.
We sat at a pleasant table, surrounded by soft music and dimmed lights. I ordered pasta with mushroom cream and truffle, and mom chose the traditional fish and chips. She even allowed herself a cocktail, while I, the bartender, preferred to pass.
After a wonderful meal, we returned to the hotel full of satisfaction. A day that began with excitement at the city's heights ended in the pleasant quiet of a shared evening.
After all these towers, I realized one simple thing - heights, and I have a never-ending love affair. I'll keep searching for the highest point in every city, for that view that lets you see everything at once. Perhaps this is what we're all searching for in life - a perspective that allows us to see the bigger picture.
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