I broke from my normal routine of not leaving the house at all over the weekend by leaving the house this weekend. On my days off, I usually prefer sitting on the couch with the air conditioning blasting, but we had some tickets that we had to use or lose. So I girded myself and headed out to Siam Paragon to get my first look at Ocean World.
I wasn't sure just what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised. It did start off a little rocky, though.
I'm not a big fan of little kids, and, it being Sunday, there were lots and lots of kids there. And quite right, too. Places like that are made for little kids, and all of them seemed to be having a really good time.
But, kids being kids, they were really loud. So I was a little grumpy to start out with. But I discovered that it's actually pretty tough to stay grumpy when you're surrounded by thousands of fish.
It turns out, it's really nice down there in the Basement of Paragon. The lights are low. There's calming music playing to calm you. And there's tons of cool fish to look at.
I was really impressed by the engineering feat that it must have taken to build all those huge tanks — tanks that you walk around and through and under. All the sea creatures looked really healthy, and it was really clean. It must take a lot of work to keep a place like that in good order, but in good order it was.
As you begin your journey, they really start you off with a bang. There were some amazing giant crabs beautifully displayed. And right after that a really beautiful North Pacific giant octopus — one of my all-time favourite sea creatures. They're native to the ocean near the area that I used to live, so I feel a particular affinity with them.
The big display tanks were really great, too. They were full of tons of fish that I recognised from, to be quite honest, eating them. The huge tank full of sharks and rays was particularly impressive. Those are some big fish.
The otters were a lot of fun, too — and the only example of marine mammals on display. I was surprised at how small they were, to be honest. I'm more used to seeing sea otters, which are quite a bit larger. But those little guys were super cute.
I went in expecting that it was going to feel like an eternity, but it was all over really quickly. That's a sure sign of a good time — it just flies by. I'm sure I'll go back sooner, rather than later.
As we came back out, blinking, into the real world, it was time to figure out what to have for lunch. None of us felt like eating sea food.
Sean Vale
Editor
[email protected]
