Day 21: The largest aquarium in South East Asia!
[ Sally typing ]
I had spent the day wandering Siam Square and the surrounding area which is I guess a shopper’s paradise. I hate shopping, but I needed proper clothes to visit the temples here (covered shoulders, closed-toe shoes — and I refuse to wear my cycling gear into the temple) so I set out to find some cheap duds that will suit my needs.
After procuring a temple-appropriate shirt, I am still in need of shoes. The funny thing is that the closed-toe shoes that I (a foreigner) am required to wear must be removed to actually enter the temple. So, they need to see the shoes that I am not wearing would not dare reveal my grotesque foreign toes, which are at present exposed, along with the rest of my foot, for all to see? Maybe this will make more sense once I’ve visited a temple, we’ll see what happens.
Anyway, at this point I’m totally sick of shopping and I’m really happy to find this random aquarium inside the shopping mall. It’s actually pretty good too! There are all sorts of species of fish that I don’t think I’d ever see in a Western aquarium. I have pics that I’ll upload later.
I enjoy reading the placards which are thankfully translated into English for me. There information revealed is pretty basic, but entertaining nonetheless. However, the place loses some credibility when it comes to its stance on Mermaids. Upon first introducing this “species” it admits that there is no solid scientific proof of their existence, but mermaids are treated with the same seriousness as any other species on display, and in fact get quite a bit more coverage on kiosks and wall murals like, “12 fun facts about Mermaids.” I learn that Mermaids can be quite beautiful but tend to have softer features than a beautiful human female, wtf??
Another funny thing I notice is the not-so-subtle corporate sponsorships and product placement. There are random Nestle signs everywhere. There’s also a sponsor called “True” which initially caused confusion for me on the Mermaid signs, “There are many more Mermaids than Mermen. TRUE.” What the-? Ohhhh…True is a company name, ok.
There are snack booths with a glass-door refrigerator full of water and little fishies swimming around — brought to you by Frigedaire. There’s a washing machine full of fish and I can’t help but feel worried for them, oh god please, nobody press the On button!
There’s also a shallow pool where you can sit with about 10 fat, sweaty tourists and have the dead skin eaten off your feet by Cleaner fish for about 50 cents. I politely decline. So bizarre.
After my aquarium experience, I walk back to the hotel and meet up with Tommy. Two folks from Tommy’s conference, Oy and Dirk, meet up with us at the hotel and we all go out on the town. Oy is Thai and is familiar with the city. It’s really nice having someone that can help get us around and answer any questions that have we have about Thailand.
Oy takes us to a traditional puppet theater (Joe Louis theater) where we see the story of the birth of Ganesha — so cool! Each puppet is controlled by three people who are visible on stage. There’s choreography in the puppeteers’ movements that mirror the expressions of the puppet. Thai puppetry is really different from any related art form that I’ve seen and I’d highly recommend it.
Afterwards, we grab dinner at a food garden where there is a jumbotron TV screen showing live concert footage on mute. Simultaneously, there are local acts on stage, directly in front of the jumbotron, performing for the diners.
1 year ago