Bangkok Fishbowl: Exotic species swim free in abandoned mall

Sawatdee, krup! 

Greetings from Cornwall, Ontario, Canada which is, notwithstanding Thum's Thai Kitchen, as well as soon to be Thai Express and a few other places that advertise themselves as serving Thai food (enough said), about as far away from the Kingdom of Thailand as one can get. Just pick up a world globe to see what I mean. Hey! How the heck are you! Glad you could drop out of cyberspace for a mug of coffee and a virtual treat. Y'have to believe that I keep up with what's happening in our former home and occasionally bring you news items or fun stories that I think are worthy of inclusion in my blog. Here's one of them...

A few blocks away from Khao San Road (home to thousands of young, backpackers) sits New World, a four-storey, roofless, abandoned mall on the corner of Banglamphu Intersection. The building’s flooded basement now serves as a home for thousands of fish and is arguably home to the most exotic underwater species in Bangkok. 

How was this new world created inside New World? It’s a long story.

Back in the 80’s, Kaew Fah Plaza Company Limited built New World as an 11-storey mall. The company was later found in breach of a building law after it constructed seven more floors on top of the approved construction blueprint. (Believe me, that is not a rare occurrence!)

The mall was shut in 1997 and an unfortunate series of events occurred thereafter. The mall was set ablaze in 1999, causing some casualties and in 2004, one person was killed from collapsing debris during a partial demolition.

The mall’s fifth to eleventh floors were eventually dismantled to be in line with the original plan and New World has been roofless ever since.

With no roof, rainwater unsurprisingly collected in the basement. The pool of static water reared mosquitoes. 

Mosquitoes annoyed vendors in the neighborhood. To fix this problem, some vendors released a bunch of fish into the pool so as to curb mosquito breeding. Quickly, that bunch of fish reproduced into thousands.

In 2011, New World closed its doors after a huge number of local visited the mall to view the 500-square-meter fishpond…

Free fish anyone? I'm really surprised the fish haven't been snapped up and grilled on a sidewalk vendor's charcoal smoker. We're having salmon tonight... bought at a local supermarket. Wonder where they got it?

See ya, eh!

Bob