Conjuring images of fearsome looking marine creatures in his innocent brain, Alex insisted we should pay the 10 baht entry fee to Marine Monsters exhibit even though we had already forked out 150 baht for admission to the oldest zoo in Thailand.
My jaw literally dropped when i stepped in; there wasn't any sight of gigantic squid, man-eating great white. In their place were about a dozen (or less) aquarium tanks housing ornamental fishes of little interest to me.
Singapore, despite its diminutive size, is a significant exporter for ornamental fishes and i had been to numerous fish farms when i still had a car. My sentiment was more of sadness though as kois, i thought, should be given a much bigger space. By the way, kois are not marine fishes!
There was a long necked turtle and an African giant catfish (which honest wasn't that big); hardly fodder to wow me. Where the hell were the marine monsters!?
Alligator gar was more unique even though the quantity of one paled in comparison when compared to Singapore's River Safari. You may click here to check out my post on Rivers of the World.
About 75% of the exhibit was reserved for the blacktip reef sharks! p.s. i don't really get what the panel was trying to inform and don't you find it funny that the shark image on the lower right belongs to another species?!
The tank for the blacktip reef sharks. Honestly, my mind was going like WTF (as in what the fish) as it's such a disappointment! Compare that to the place i chanced upon in Maafushi Island, Maldives!
I actually spent a longer time in the marine monsters exhibit than Alex and even then, the time i took was less than four minutes; majority of which was to compose my camera in the low light setting! It was incredibly small even for the 10 baht we paid for each person! Don't believe me? Alex walked in, looked around and was out in about 10 steps.
More appealing was the two-headed turtle at the ticketing counter of Marine Monsters exhibit. You don't even have to pay a single cent to take its picture, so long you don't use flash.
Alligator gars, blacktip reef sharks, kois, long necked turtle and giant catfish - i have seen all of them before in other settings but a two-headed turtle; that's a first for me!
=====
Location
Within Dusit Zoo,
Bangkok, Thailand
Price to the Exhibit
Admission - 10 baht per person
(Not inclusive of entry fee to the zoo)
For the itinerary of my relaxing six days, five nights visit to the City of Angels, please click here.