Siam Ocean World @ Siam Paragon, Bangkok
Being a pair of very somewhat clueless travelers, we had forgotten about the existence of Siam Ocean World until a discount coupon was given to us upon purchasing the tickets for “The Confessions of a Shopaholic”, the movie Mell suggested we watch (which actually turned out to be good)
Well, I was the president of Aquarium Society back in high school, held an annual membership at the Newport Aquarium in Greater Cincinnati, visited the Shedd Aquarium at Chicago, as well as our very own Aquaria at KLCC. So it was natural that I shall not miss out this place, touted as the best indoor aquarium in South East Asia.
Mell walking with the sharks
While the KLCC Aquaria’s entrance fee is RM 38 (foreigner) and RM 28 (myKard holder), the tickets for this place is a lot steeper. 850 baht for adult, and 650 baht for children, which is about 3 times more expensive than Aquaria, but similarly the place is about 3 times bigger, so it was all good. Our discount was something like 30% for one of the tickets if I remember correctly.
this is like a whack-a-mole eel, you go closer, they go into hiding
Other than the usual touring the exhibits like we do, there are several other activities offered at this place, and the most interesting one would be Dive with the Sharks, as in, you get to dive for 30 minutes inside the tank with an instructor and be among the sharks (the docile yet fierce looking Sand Tiger Sharks). I think this is something I should perhaps plan to do in the next visit. If I remember correctly, that costs about 4-5000 baht.
the prawn, the salamander, and the very cute mantis prawn with x_x eyes
The other interesting activity at Siam Ocean World is the Ocean Walker. Basically you suit up and put a glass helmet over your head and walks for 15 minutes on the sandy bottom in one of the giant tanks (which doesn’t house the sharks I believe. It could be a very interesting experience especially for non-swimmers.
And for the less adventurous, there’s also the Glass Bottom Boat for a different perspective in looking at the fishes. We did not take up any of those extra activities though.
otter and some giant rodents too
The aquarium is separated into quite a few sections over 2 basement levels in Siam Paragon Mall. Right after the entrance was the “Weird and Wonderful” section with many interesting creatures such as the “whack-a-mole” eels. Next is the “Living Ocean”, and then “Rain Forest”, “Rocky Shore”, “Sea Jellies”, and “Open Ocean”, you can find out what is exhibiting at which zone on their website.
mell with arapaima gigas, the biggest fresh water fish
The variety of creatures are quite big. Fresh water giants like Arapaima Gigas to the normal aquarium fishes you find at homes. There are also jelly fish, sea horses, mantis shrimps, sharks, sting rays, red snappers, grouper fish, eels, and more.
There are also star fish, horseshoe crabs, salamanders, giant rodents, otters, turtles, and even penguins. I think the only major type of sea creature I did not see in there was living octopus, squid, and cuttle fish. But they made it up with samples of preserved deep ocean creatures though.
in another day, we would have eaten the sting ray
It was a pretty interesting experience despite the price being a little steep. I think the next aquarium I’ll be going could very well be the Melbourne Aquarium 
Tweet
looks like a good 1 there.
The mantis prawn is SO CUTE, cannot tahan!
Myhorng,
Yesss, I wanan go to the one in Melbourne too!
Mellissa,
With it’s X_X eyes!
hey, ky if u happen to come to melbourne pls do contact me. i will be ur host and take u to one of the nicest Japanese restaurant that i have tried in melbourne
dengggg! didn’t warn me b4 i enter this site!!! FISH!?!??!?!?! *pengsan
kai han,
Thanks! I’m going this April! Lets see if I can arrange a time or something.
Jade Zheng,
Fishes are food, don’t worry!
those underwater sea creatures really are fascnating… and they are beautiful… i like the eel and the salamander… not common for us… ^__^
The Melbourne Aquarium is quite good!
Haha! The stingray would look mighty delicious over a grill.
Did they play classical music? Ahh…I remember the one I visited in Perth, I think it’s called ‘Aqua’. It was amazing and I love starring at the fluorescent jelly fish. The aquarium looks like a humongous lava lamp. Hmm… have a good trip in melbie, mate!
geez … you reli love your aquariums dont you?
a bit steep, no doubt, but given the variety of aquatic animals present, (no idea the Gigas is the LARGEST freshwater fish though … never heard of) considered ok lah …
cindy khor,
Ya the eels are cool, I’ve actually seen them on a diving trip once.
Huai Bin,
Hahhaa yes, ikan bakar!
Lorna,
No classical music I don’t think.
J2Kfm,
Hahhaa yah, that’s why I also have a fish pond?
Come by to Baltimore National Aquarium whenever you visiting the States.
wow…. great shot… i never get lucky in the acquarium shot…
hey ky….wat camera model u use to take this shots?
hmmm sting ray..grilled! best!
wah..! X_X expression. cute!!!
Wah quite expensive sial.
i want to go walking in the ocean~~ lol
Paul,
Ahhh Baltimore, I would love to!
PenangTuaPui,
Just have to be steady, steadyyy
vialentino,
Just an old Canon 400D
eiling,
Yess! sedap!
dy,
Hahha yes!
ShaolinTiger,
Yah, very, in fact almost more expensive than Australia!
Robb,
not flow in the ocean? hahaha
i want the jellyfish! just to keep it at home and look haha
how come u always get to eat and travel, eat and travel, eat and travel?
HAHAHA
the world ain’t always fair, is it?
=D
i think siam paragon is way much better than any of malaysia shopping malls combined. great place to shop (it is kinda expensive though) but the things there, u cant really get it in kl. i think the ticket is just worth it considering what you will be experiencing.
I went there in December also!! Nice!!
Check out here
Go to Melbourne and meet your sweet heart.
pinky,
Hahaha, buy a soft toy version!
Jess,
You can do it too!
rakthai,
I have to agree, though Pavilion and Starhill isn’t bad either.
xL,
Ooo you took the glass bottom boat! Cool.
Simon Seow,
Heehee
wow…canon 400 d …ok ok…me planning to get dslr but doing survey….but saw all ur pics very beautifuly taken and the quality is wat i want….any dslr cam’s to recommend…wat u think of nikon d90?
i also want to buy camera… any suggestion? budget less than RM1K…
[...] We watched The Wrestler at the awesome cinema again (since he watched Confessions of a Shopaholic with me on the first day we were there) which turned out to be okay, not bad, not really my type of movie but Mickey Rourke was good. We then decided to hit Siam Ocean World which you can read about in more detail over here. [...]
vialentino,
D90 is a very good camera, actually lens quality is more important than body in many cases.
carrie,
oOO maybe a used dSLR? Try searching on some of the local photography forums