Though most of your time traveling will (and should) be spent at ground level in Southeast Asia, sometimes it’s fun to seek out a bird’s-eye view of a city. It helps you get a feel for the size of the town, and adds another dimension to your holiday photographs.
Here are some of the tallest buildings in the region:
Singapore
Asia’s lovely city-state has more than 4,000 high-rise buildings in its skyline, with more than 50 of them topping 140 meters. The three tallest buildings tower to 280 meters above the city streets. They are: UOB Plaza One, Republic Plaza, and OUB Centre (also known as One Raffles Place). Other than 1-Altitude, a bar 282 meters on One Raffles Place with stunning views, these buildings house offices, offices and more offices, but few good venues for curious tourists to find a viewpoint. However, the monoliths themselves make a good photo subject, for example from the Skybar on top of the Marina Bay Sands.
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur has two of the most distinctive tall buildings in Asia—the tapered Petronas Towers. Built in 1998 to a height of 482 meters, these towers have both a Skybridge and an observation deck from which tourists can soak in the city views. The Skybridge is 41 stories above street level, while riding the elevator to the observation deck will shoot you 86 stories in the air. If you’re planning to visit the Petronas Towers, schedule your visit from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. any day of the week except Tuesdays, when the observation areas are closed to the public. The ticket office opens at 8:30 a.m.
Thailand
If you’re in Bangkok and looking for some breeze above the city’s sois and khlongs, you can choose between visits to several of the city’s skyscrapers, but the one that is most popularly visited by tourists wanting a view is Baiyoke Tower II on Ratchaprarop Road. At street level, you’ll find plenty of shopping in malls and stalls on the street, but stores a hotel inside, the Baiyoke Sky Hotel offers rooms with a fantastic view 88 stories off the ground. You don’t have to stay at the hotel to enjoy the view, however. The 304-meter-tall building also boasts an observation deck on the 77th floor, a bar and music lounge on the 83rd floor, and a revolving roof deck on the 84th floor.
Indonesia
One of Jakarta’s most iconic tall buildings is the 250-meter-tall Wisma 46, known to many as “The Fountain Pen Building” because of its gracefully sloped spire. It’s located on Jalan Jend Sudirman. However, for mealtime views over the rest of Jakarta, many travelers prefer dining at Italian restaurant Gaia on the 46th floor of nearby The Plaza, on Jalan M.H. Thamrin.
Laos
One of the smaller nations in Southeast Asia, Laos is known more for its villages and landscapes than its skyscrapers. Which means that even the relatively short 277-meter-tall Wiengchan Lao National Radio transmitter in capital Vientiane is the tallest structure in the whole country. You can’t go up the transmitter, but you can get a bit of a view over the tree lined streets from the observation deck at the Patuxai, an arch-shaped victory monument in the center of Vientiane.
Photos by William Cho, Miusam CK, Prachanart Viriyaraks, yohanes budiyanto and yeowatzup
