Lunch at Vivocity Thai Express. Had the Pad Thai with beef. First time trying Thai cuisine and I must say I loved it.
Underwater World was a blast. Been there before a long time ago but can't remember anything about it, except for the long underwater tunnel. Quite a small place but full of really cool stuff. First thing you notice when you enter the place is the "Touch Pool", where you get to touch (obviously) some of the marine life there. There're pufferfish, archerfish, starfish, bamboo sharks and blue-spotted stingray (the rays were really cute).
Bunch of other pools. There's one with some rather large rays in it. You can pay $3 for a bowl of feed to feed the rays during specific hours, although unfortunately there were none left by the time we got there. Apparently you're supposed to hold the feed in your palm and dip it in the water for the rays to suck off your hand, pretty neat!
There're also two aquariums with holes in them for you to stick your hand through and feed the fishes inside. It's called the Mystical Anti-Gravity Interactive Concept Tank, or Magic T for short, because the water doesn't gush out when you stick your hand in there. This is what it looks like:
There're two tanks, one for freshwater fish (pic above) full of blood parrot cichlid and another for marine fish. Purchased feed for the freshwater fish ($2) and proceeded to feed them. You don't even need to stick your hand all the way in because those greedy things will come swimming out for the food. Couldn't get feed for the marine fish unfortunately, the capsule dispenser wasn't working.
Another pool, this time with sharks in them. Obviously you can't stick your hand inside (becuase it's full of sharks), but you can still feed them for $3. You're provided with a bowl of feed consisting of a few chucks of fish and a plastic skewer thing. Stick the feed on the skewer and lower it into the pool. The sharks weren't all that hungry though, but it was a really cool experience.
Some other small exhibitions around, aquariums with beautiful harlequin shrimp, nasty looking dragon moray eels, super cute garden eels that live in holes in the sand. There's even a display that shows the different stages of development of bamboo shark embryos (the sharks lay eggs), you can even see the unborn babies wriggling in them. Pretty incredible stuff. Here's a video I found on Vimeo so you can see what it looks like.
The "Living Fossils" part of the Underwater World was pretty interesting, featuring some cool marine animals like Horseshoe crabs, American Lungfish and Birchirs. The highlight was this massive tank full of giant, giant fish. Catfish, Alligator Gars (really small when compared to the rest of the tank's residents), Spotted Stingray and Arapaimas, one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world. These things can grow up to 2 fucking metres long!
Next up was the cephalopod exhibition. Saw Giant Pacific Octopus, Pharaoh Cuttlefish and this interesting creature called the Chambered Nautilus. This is how they look like:
There were a few crab aquariums too, with Decorator Crabs (they attach bits of seaweed and stuff to themselves via hooks), Coconut Crabs, etc. Highlight were the Japanese Spider Crabs. Giant monsters. There was also an aquarium with two Leafy Seadragons and Weedy Seadragons each. Really cool stuff.
Then of course there was the Tunnel. Saw Eagle Rays, Nurse Sharks, White tip Sharks, Black tip Sharks, Silver Trevally, Giant Groupers (fucking crazy monsters that can grow up to 2.7 metres long!). Unfortunately (again!), no Dugongs. There was a sign saying they were upgrading the exhibit so oh well.
Stopped by Dolphin Lagoon for a short while, couldn't see anything because of all the people so we left. Don't like dolphins much anyway.
On the way out, saw this Indian mum sticking her hand inside the Shark Pool, smiling away like an idiot, and all I could think was "What a fucking stupid bitch". Just because the other pools are Touch Pools it doesn't mean a pool full of fucking sharks is safe. Maybe she could try reading the gazillion signs around the pool saying "For your safety please keep your hands out of the water." Or maybe take a hint from the plastic rim that's SPECIALLY DESIGNED TO KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT OF THE POOL.
Stupid tourists.
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