"The pride of Bangkok" is the slogan of Siam Paragon, a mega shopping complex that houses various world-class International brands and flagship stores of the most major high-end brands. It has interesting venues such as the Siam Ocean World, Paragon Cineplex and Royal Paragon Hall.



After a little window shopping, the seven of us were already craving for food so we made our way to the Food Hall on the lower level of the shopping center, which is divided into three zones: Food Hall Food Court, Food Hall Gallery, and Food Hall Take Home.


It may seem a daunting task at first deciding what to eat because of the wide array of International culinary dishes offered in numerous restaurants and food stalls. Here are just some of the dishes that we sampled.


Adjacent to the food court area is The Gourmet Market, an 8,000 square meter grocery store.

Since we were all pretty fagged out we just passed by to Siam Ocean Ocean World located on B1 and B2. It is the largest aquarium in Southeast Asia featuring marine animals. It offers a "Dive with the Sharks program" where visitors can scuba dive in the Open Ocean side by side with the sharks and rays. The aquarium also features "Sanyo 4D X-venture" a state of the art 4D Theater. Beside the Ocean World is the Shark Shop selling all things aquatic. Entrance fee is Baht 850 adults / 650 children (rates as of 2008). They are open at 9:00 am to 10:00 pm daily.


Soon after, we finally decided to head back to Baiyoke Boutique. Hb and I came to a decision to let the rest of the family experience the Tuk Tuk ride. So we went to the side street where the tuk tuk drivers hang out. We hired two tuk tuks and split into two groups. The three of us were immediately whisked off by our driver to the street leaving the other group behind. Shortly, they overtook us and we were taken by surprise when we saw all four of them in the vehicle squeezed and crammed like sardines inside a small can. My elder sister, my nephew and I burst into a fit of laughter. Hilarious!


We weaved in and out of traffic while our driver made constant cacophonic honking of horns, flashing of lights and recklessly overtaking numerous other cars. The experience? The four adults all really got scared but had fun at the same time, while my nephew enjoyed the whole ride extremely.

Unfortunately, we forgot to bargain our fare in advance, and consequently our drivers started off quoting a higher price. tsk, tsk... (Click here for more tuk tuk info and tourist trap experience)