Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cluding relatively rare indigenous species such as banteng, gaur, serow and some rhinoceros. There are shady
grounds plus a lake in the centre with paddleboats for hire and a small children's playground.
A massive underwater world has been recreated at the
Siam Ocean World
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
(
www.siamoceanworld.com;
basement, Siam Paragon, 991/1 Th Phra Ram I; adult/child 900/700B;
10am-9pm; Siam exits 3 & 5) shopping-centre aquarium. Gaze into the glass-enclosed deep-reef zone or
view the daily feeding of penguins and sharks. For a budget version, join the novice monks and other children as
they sprinkle fish food (sold on the pier) into the river at Tha Thewet, transforming the muddy river into a brisk
boil of flapping bodies.
Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute
ZOO
(Snake Farm; cnr Th Phra Ram IV & Th Henri Dunant; adult/child 200/50B; 9.30am-3.30pm Mon-Fri, to 1pm Sat
& Sun; Si Lom exit 1, Sala Daeng exit 3)
Snake farms tend to gravitate towards carnivalesque
rather than humanitarian, except at the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute. Founded in
1923, the snake farm gathers antivenin from venomous snakes. This is done by milking
the snakes' venom, injecting it into horses, and harvesting and purifying the antivenin
they produce. The antivenins are then used to treat human victims of snake bites.
The leafy grounds are home to a few caged snakes (and a constant soundtrack of
Western rock music), but the bulk of the attractions are found in the Simaseng Building, at
the rear of the compound. The ground floor houses several varieties of snakes in glass
cages. Regular
milkings
(
11am Mon-Fri)
and
snake-handling performances
(
2.30pm Mon-Fri, 11am
& 2.30pm Sat & Sun)
are held at the outdoor amphitheatre.
Sri Mariamman Temple hindu
TEMPLE
(Wat Phra Si Maha Umathewi; cnr Th Silom & Th Pan; 6am-8pm; Surasak exit 3)
Standing out,
even among Bangkok's golden wát, this Hindu temple virtually leaps off the block. Built
in the 1860s by Tamil immigrants in the centre of a still thriving ethnic enclave, the struc-
ture is a stacked facade of intertwined, full-colour Hindu deities.
In the centre of the main shrine is Jao Mae Maha Umathewi (Uma Devi, also known as
Shakti, Shiva's consort), and along the left interior wall sit rows of Shiva, Vishnu and oth-
er Hindu deities, as well as a few Buddhas, so that just about any non-Muslim, non-
Judaeo-Christian Asian can worship here.
Thais call this temple Wat Khaek -
kàak
is a colloquial expression for people of South
Asian descent. The literal translation is 'guest', a euphemism for a group of people that
