Climbing an Abandoned Highrise in Bangkok with Scary Photos

Wat Arun by Carl Parkes

Here's a really amazing adventure in Bangkok, as an intrepid soul climbs one of those abandoned buildings and lives to tell the tale and post some unbelieveable photos.

Sathorn Unique is a 49-story building, located in downtown Bangkok, built in 1990. At 80% construction, it was abandoned in 1997 and never completed. Locals insist, the skyscraper is haunted and call it the "Ghost Tower". They sternly instructed me to not enter the building. Well, I don't believe in ghosts so guess what I did... But more on that later.

building was meant to be one of Bangkok's most exclusive and luxury residential projects. A skyscraper with 659 residential units and 54 retails, in addition to a spectacular panoramic view of the Chao Phraya river.

The project was designed by Rangsan & Pansit architecture Co., Ltd. Nowadays the building is owned by Doctor Rangsan’s son, who offered to sell the building for 1.800.000.000 Baht ($60 Million USD).

Thailand was one of the fastest growing economies in the world during the early 90s. The economy was booming when the project started. But then everything suddenly changed in 1997. Thailand, especially Bangkok, was strongly affected by the Asian Financial Crisis. Later the country went bankrupt due acquiring too much foreign dept. The Thai Baht collapsed in 1997 and the development of the Sathorn Unique Building came to a crashing halt.

Climbing Up and Abandoned Highrise in Bangkok