Down a nondescript soi (Thai term for side-street) in the old town of Bangkok you will find the abandoned New World shopping mall. Travel photographer Jesse Rockwell ventured beyond the ‘Do Not Enter’ sign and discovered a flooded building overrun with koi and catfish. On his travel blog, A Taste of the Road, Rockwell explains:
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 2000′s 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. [source]
You can find more pictures of this fascinating ‘urban aquarium’ on Rockwell’s blog.
