Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Siam Ocean World - Bangkok



Today my travel blog post is moving on to a different country, Thailand, as I have at last caught up with our Travel Tales from Hong Kong. As this blog is still a relatively new one, a year in a few days, I am still catching up on travels we have taken that I wanted to become part of this blog. Set up as much for me as a scrapbook of memories as in response to requests for readers of  News From Italy that were interested in our travels outside of Italy. In fact I have included a couple of trips within Italy but outside our home region of Lazio here on Travel Tales. Anyway over the winter months while things are quieter in Italy, the plan is to catch up with writing and posting here.

This time last year Thailand was suffering from tremendous flooding problems. We were in Bangkok before the floods reached their height which fortunately meant the high water levels did not pose us too many problems and we had good weather. When we first arrived in the city it was raining though and wondering what to do we took ourselves off to visit Siam Ocean World and we were so pleased that we did as we had an absolutely fascinating tour.



The Siam Ocean World aquarium with over four hundred species of more than thirty thousand aquatic creatures is the largest in South East Asia. It covers 10,000 square meters and the seven different zones that are walked through during a visit are well laid out and a fascinating experience for everyone. The first zone is entitled weird and wonderful; it certainly is with some of the weirdest and most bizarre marine animals housed here.
The colourful sea life that surrounds coral reefs is the theme for the deep reef zone two and the eight metre high coral tank that is housed there. Zone three, the living ocean gives you the opportunity to experience the underwater rules of survival where animals must protect themselves against predators as well as adapt to their environment.  The next zone, four takes the visitor deep into the rainforest to discover the complexities of the ecosystem within the forest and be amazed by the world’s largest fresh water fish. Penguins are to be found in zone five, which is a rocky shore where they would struggle for survival in the natural habitat as they have to adapt to intense land and sea conditions.  A glass tunnel under  the open ocean is zone seven and is very impressive as the two hundred and seventy degree tunnel means that one is surrounded by the predators and prey, quite amazing.
Throughout the day in different zones of the aquarium it is possible to view various species such as Shark, Eagle Rays, Penguins, Otters and Fresh Water Fish at feeding times.








If you wish to view the photos in a larger format, just click on them individually, this should work. I have also put together a slideshow on YouTube of the photos I took as there were too many to share here individually.

Published on YouTube by LindyLouMac

All photos are my own taken in October 2011. 
 Copyright All rights reserved by LindyLouMac Photo Collection 
The full set of photos may also be viewed individually in my album entitled  




Location Map

Location: The aquarium is to be found in Siam Square in the Siam Paragon Building.
991 Rama 1 Road
Bangkok 10330
Thailand.
Opening hours:09.00-21.00 (Last entry 20.00)
Admission:  Bht 450 for adults and Bht 280 for children.
Transport: Buses 25, 501 and 508 or Train to Siam Station.

The information here was taken from a Siam World brochure. The following website links may also be of interest.  Siam Ocean World - Official Website     Bangkok.com

39 comments:

  1. We know so little about our oceans and the incredible creatures that call it home.

    Wonderful post!

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    1. The Ocean is definitely an incredible place and visiting this aquarium was absolutely fascinating. I am delighted you found the post of interest Daniel.

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  2. Fabulous post! Definitely sounds like my kind of place! And sounds very well organised! Aquaria that have you meander along and are completely disorganised and aren't at all educational (i.e. the Valencia Oceanográfic) tend to drive me NUTS! :P

    You mention going in because it was raining... funny, I visited the London Aquarium for the exact same reason! Although I tend to always visit aquaria when I travel (if there is one), it took me several trips to London before I saw theirs (expensive!).

    You've got some gorgeous photos, it's very difficult to get shots in an aquarium because of the low light conditions and the non-using of flash!
    In order those seem to be a king crab, a "poisson chauve souris" (bat fish, French name, I don't know the English one!), a Pirara (catfish from the Amazon). Those two sharks swimming side by side, I'm not 100% sure (hard to make it out in the shot) but I think the one in the foreground is definitely a male, the second I'm less sure of it being a female.

    If I ever make it (back) to Bangkok I'm definitely visiting this place! Thanks for bringing it to my attention! :o)

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    1. Hi there Cris, thanks so much for such a great response to the post and for naming the photos. Maybe you would like to do the whole album for me, I am not very good when it comes to identification. Just joking of course!

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    2. lol! I'd love to help out, but I could only name those I'm already familiar with! Identifying an unknown fish from just a photo is a lot harder! :p
      What I do when I visit aquaria is take a picture of the name plate as well as the fish! ;o)

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    3. I have been known to do that, but for some reason did not think of it on this visit.

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  3. Wow, awesome shots from the Ocean World. The sharks are cool and I love the colorful fish. Thanks for sharing your travels. Have a great day!

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    1. It is fun to share Eileen, also provides me with an on-line memory scrapbook of our travels.

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  4. Lovely photos from the Land of Smiles. One of my favourite country to shop.

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  5. I love visiting aquariums they are so awesome and there is so much we still don't know about the ocean world...........

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    1. I guess that is what makes visiting aquariums so fascinating Jo-Anne.

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  6. Great photo. Thailand is a fascinating country and there lots of things to see and do there.

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    1. It certainly is a fascinating country and I hope to return to see a lot more given the opportunity.

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  7. I went on my honeymoon to Thailand it has a special place in my heart.

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    1. I am not surprised it has a special place in your heart, it is a beautiful country and people are so friendly.

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  8. So beautiful. I love your images; what a delightful adventure.

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    1. Thankyou Judy, I would love to return to Thailand given the opportunity as there is so much more to see than we achieved.

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  9. Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. It is a pleasure Robert, delighted you found it interesting.

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  10. Beautiful photos, excellent colors, really spectacular ... I love

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    1. Thanks so much Leovi, it was a place full of colour.

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  11. Loved this post! Actually I'm a tropical fish hobbyist, but missed this place in Bangkok.

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    1. Thanks JM, a good excuse for a return trip sometime then.

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  12. Love this! We have a huge aquarium in our apartment. I love sharks!

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  13. Lovely post of ocean world♡♡♡ Made me wish to visit Bangkok someday.
    By the way, I love your header here; I thik there is a kind of Asian touch♡♡♡

    Thank you very much for stopping by and hope you will have a wonderful coming weekend!
    Sending you lots of love and hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*

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    1. Thankyou Miyako, I hope you do get the opportunity to visit Bangkok one day, yes the header is to give an Asian touch while I write about Thailand.

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  14. Wonderful shots of the ocean life.

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    1. Thankyou Rajesh for sharing your appreciation of the post.

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  15. Belíssimas fotos de todas essas espécies marinhas que habitando num aquário nos ajudam a compreender o quanto é maravilhoso o mundo em que habitamos. Abraço. Ailime

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    1. Thankyou, indeed it is a beautiful and amazing world Ailime.

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  16. Interesting sea creatures.. and you captured them all very well my friend..

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    1. Huzhar, thankyou for letting me know you found the post interesting, it is appreciated.

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  17. Unforgettable sea life. absolute, such an amazing visit.
    nice post.

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  18. I recently visited Siam ocean world at Bangkok, Thailand and its definitely worth the money :) Thoroughly enjoyed it.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed your visit Brooke, as promised in my comment below I paid a visit to your blog in return and discovered it is a fan page for clothing. I have given you the benefit of the doubt and not deleted this comment as spam!!

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