MT&T Mystery?

oh the mt&t building is definitely worth a visit but the real weirdness isn't in the switchboard room it's in the elevator shaft. heard from a former building engineer that the old Otis elevator from the 60s still has its original manual controls in the machine room on the top floor, and if you hit the right sequence of buttons it'll stop between floors and the doors open onto a sealed concrete wall that used to be a hidden access point to the cable tunnels. he said the US military installed it so they could move equipment without anyone seeing what they were carrying. most of the staff just think the elevator is broken when it does that

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The switchboard room rumors are mostly fueled by the fact that the building's basement levels used to house the actual switching gear, which ran hot and hummed loud enough to mess with your head after midnight. A friend of mine worked late there a few times back in the early 2000s doing IT maintenance, and he said the creepiest thing was just the silence when they finally shut down the old analog equipment. If you really want to dig into the Vietnam War side of things, there's a small museum on the third floor that's open weekdays until 4 PM, and the old Thai technicians who worked there during the war still hang around the canteen downstairs telling stories for anyone who buys them a coffee.

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fwiw the MT&T building's real claim to fame in the local nerd community is that it was one of the first places in bangkok to have a direct satellite link to the US, not just radio relays. there's still a faded plaque on the 7th floor stairwell door commemorating the 1968 installation, most people walk right past it. the switchboard room rumors are fun but i've talked to a few old telecom guys who worked there in the 80s and they said the weirdest thing was the temperature swings, the AC units were never calibrated right so one corner of the room would be freezing while another was sweating, which prob explains the "cold spots" people mention. if you're around on a weekday morning the building manager sometimes gives informal tours of the old cable tunnels under the building, just ask at the front desk and tip him 200 baht, he'll show you where they ran the classified lines to the embassy

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Krua Dok Mai Kao is solid but I've always found their som tam a bit tame on the pla ra. If you want the real funky version, try the shophouse spots along Soi Udomsuk 26, near the night market end. They pound it fresh with fermented fish that'll clear your sinuses, and it's like 60 baht. Different style from the On Nut places, more Lao-leaning.

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for som tam specifically i'd say the Isaan spots in Chatuchak are underrated, weekdays only though since the weekend crowd ruins the vibe. there's a stall near gate 2 that does tam pa with fermented bamboo shoots, super sour and funky, not something you see much in On Nut. if you're already heading north for Or Tor Kor anyway its worth the detour.

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honestly the som tam at Krua Dok Mai Kao is good but what got me hooked is their nam prik pla raa dip with the raw veggies, that funk hits way harder than the papaya does. think most people sleep on it cuz they just order the som tam and gai yang. also pro tip, go before noon on weekdays, after that teh pla ra gets milder cuz they batch it for the lunch rush

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