I took advantage of my ‘new Friday’ on a Tuesday routine and left work at 10:30am on a van bound for Bangkok. For lunch: a delicious tomato soup with vegetables at a nice western café. Errand for the day: stop at a bank for some transactions. I filled in my ticket with the date 8/22/2554 (Thai Buddhist calendar year is 2554) and was surprised when the teller changed the date to 8/23/2554. Huh, I thought, I’ve been living in the past! So I quickly made a mental note to write my parents that night to wish them a belated happy anniversary! Happy anniversary mom and dad! I’ll go ahead and dedicate this blog to many more happy and healthy years!
Next on my Tuesday agenda, a real treat: Ocean World at Siam Paragon.
Siam Paragon is a large and very ritzy mall in Bangkok. It is a gorgeous mall with lots of great eateries, Thai traditional art galleries, hordes of in-vogue shopping boutiques, and a Lamborghini dealership on the fourth floor! In the basement of the mall-megaplex is Ocean World, the largest aquarium in Thailand.
NOTE for my teacher friends: The price charged to Farang (foreigners) is 1000 Baht, but if you show your work permit, they let you in at the Thai price of 380 Baht.
I was very impressed with the look and feel of this aquarium. I’d have to say it beats the aquarium in Denver, CO, and rivals the aquarium in Melbourne, Australia. The place was massive and the many different tanks were thoughtfully displayed. Each display also featured an informative write-up about the fish or creature with fun facts, etc., in both Thai and English. The aquarium was divided into three main zones: Deep Reef, Rainforest, and Open Ocean. The open ocean is where you want to go if you want to see sharks up close and personal!
At many of the exhibits, a staff member was equipped with a microphone and was explaining the exhibit in Thai, followed by an English translation. The English spoken was actually very good! I was impressed.
My favorite fish was the paraya. These small guys have some wicked looking teeth. All the better to eat their source of food: piranhas. You gotta be tough to hunt piranha! And yet, the paraya are harmless to humans.
Also in the mix, I got to see the water rats and sea otter feedings. Both were very cute. The sea otters have been trained to play fetch with balls tossed into the water before they earn their dinner! Very entertaining!
Then, the main attraction: I got to see two divers enter the Open Ocean tanks with a cage full of food. Piece by piece, they retrieved portions of meat to feed directly to the sharks! Is it bravery or foolishness? I’m not sure, but it was fun to watch! (and no one got hurt!) Oh- it was also pretty neat to hear the Jaws theme music played over the PA system throughout the shark feeding. That movie and the composer will forever live in association with sharks, the world over!
Returning to my town, about 45 minutes away on the van ride again, the evening was capped with wonderful food and camaraderie at a teacher party. This was held at the nicest seafood restaurant in town, which is situated right above the banks of the town river, providing for a very nice view of the sunset over the water. The Thai teachers all sang karaoke (they love their karaoke here!), and myself and my foreign co-teachers all enjoyed the evening. Nothing like seafood after spending most of the day staring at fish swimming around! You look at the fish in tanks long enough, and they sort of start to look like food. These "pineapple fish" (that's the real name too) were just begging me to eat them!
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