Staircase training opportunity

[Travs]

That tower is pretty scary to climb - not only is it leaning, it is amazingly narrow for its height, and the staircase supports look like they could come away any minute. My partner is pretty game on scrambles - she waited at the bottom.

Also quite scary at the top. Very narrow. The steel bars and chain-link guards to prevent people falling out or chucking stuff off, aren't entirely substantial either. Worth it for the views though.

When i was training in Bangkok, there was a huge temple in the next street from our gym. An absolutely amazing place... several buddha statues made from gold and what looked like Jade. 14 floors. Most of the floors were "closed" but i sneaked up the staircase for a look round... floor after floor of old Thai artefacts, statues. The sort of stuff you'd expect to see in the British Museum.

Yet this place is not in any tourist guide-book.

At the very top (95 metres) it opens out and you can get outside. A harrowing experience... the sense of exposure was unreal, down the vertical sides of the temple. No protective railing, just a wall which wasn't even waist height. The walkway round the outside was less than a metre wide in most places so you were forced up close to that waist-high wall if you wanted to walk round.

Fantastic 360deg views of Bangkok though!