Sun salutations up high – helipad yoga in Bangkok

I’m starting a collection of unusual places I have done yoga classes…but the most memorable so far was when we stayed at The Peninsula Bangkok and discovered that they offered a unique dawn helipad yoga class high above the awakening city. 

The Peninsula Bangkok is a hotel that has been on The Poolboy’s ‘list’ for many years, ever since he visited Bangkok in his twenties and gazed longingly across the river at its imposing tower presence. So when we drew up the itinerary for our most recent trip to Thailand, we arranged to stay for the last night of our two and a half week trip there.

Changes to our plans mid-trip meant that we returned to Bangkok from Hua Hin a day earlier than originally planned, and fortunately The Peninsula was able to accommodate our change of plans and add an earlier night to our booking.

It was a very fortuitous change of plans, as when I checked into our room on Tuesday afternoon and read through the ‘bi-weekly activities’ sheet that had been left on our desk, I found out that The Peninsula Spa holds two very special, complimentary yoga sessions each week for guests – one at sunset each Saturday, and the other at sunrise each Wednesday.

Wednesday. Which just happened to be the following morning.

And the kicker? These special yoga sessions are held on the hotel’s helipad high above the city!

So we made our reservations and set our alarm clocks to awaken at 5.40am, as we had to check in at the Spa at 5.55am.

After signing some forms, and discussing our prior yoga experience, our instructor escorted us to the 37th floor where we took another small lift up to the rooftop helipad where we set up our mats. The city was still cloaked in darkness.

With just the four of us in the class, it was like our own private session and as we were expertly guided through the practice, we were in awe of the colour of the dawn sky and the sounds and sights of the city awakening.
Initially, I had been apprehensive that my legs would turn to jelly being out in the open on the helipad, so high up. But, in fact, it felt very secure and I found it quite meditative to be surrounded by the sunrise sky. We were particularly lucky with the choice of day, as the sky changed through a spectacular array of blue, purple, pink, orange and yellow streaks. At the same time the following morning, sunrise was much more subdued and grey.

We were very engaged in our practice, so didn’t stop to take photos during the class, but our instructor kindly took some of us at the end. You have to get the Instagram-able shots… 🙂

Our reward for waking up so early was this incredible view:

Later in the day, as I reclined in the jacuzzi at the hotel’s pool, I was able to look back up to where our day had started.

And while I soaked in the warmth of those bubbling waters I wished we were staying a few more days so that I could have tried the Saturday sunset class as well!

The Details

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