An Abandoned Bangkok Shopping Mall Hides a Fishy Secret

Fun and Random

Photo © Jesse Rockwell

Photo © Jesse Rockwell

Photo © Jesse Rockwell

Photo © Jesse Rockwell

Photo © Jesse Rockwell

Photo © Jesse Rockwell

Photo © Jesse Rockwell

In most post-apocalyptic films when the camera pans down the abandoned streets of New York or Tokyo, long after people have disappeared and the buildings have fallen into disrepair, we see nature again thriving. Trees and plants take hold in the sidewalks and wild animals like deer, bears, and lions stalk the ruins left behind by humans. But after descending the staircase at a vacant shopping mall in Bangkok, professional cook and photographer Jesse Rockwell discovered a wholly different take on beasts inheriting the Earth: fish. Specifically exotic koi and catfish, teeming by the thousands in a secret subterranean aquarium. Rockwell shares via his blog:

New World shopping mall, a four storey former shopping mall. Originally constructed as an eleven storey building. It was found to be in breach of old town Bangkok’s four storey limit on building heights. The top seven floors were demolished to adhere to building codes in 1997. In 1999 the mall burned due to suspected arson committed by a competitor in the area. The disaster resulted in several casualties, and the building has remained abandoned ever since. Not having a roof, the basement floor remains under several feet of water year round.

At some point in the early 2000s an unknown person began introducing a small population of exotic Koi and Catfish species. The small population of fish began to thrive and the result is now a self-sustained, and amazingly populated urban aquarium.

What an amazing discovery. It makes you wonder what else lurks in abandoned places around the world? You can see more of Rockwell’s photography over on 500px and on his website, Taste of the Road. (via James Theophane, The Verge)

 
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