Aquaria KLCC

It’s currently the mid-term school break for kids in Malaysia. That means all holiday spots on the islands of Pangkor, Langkawi, Penang and Cherating, especially, are booked out (and swarming with shrieking 6-12 year-olds!). If parents can’t get away from the city, they’re usually in the city’s malls, catering to every whim, fancy and tantrum in trying to please their kids during the holidays.

One of those places buzzing with children who seem like they’d just drunk two big bottles of soda is Aquaria, located at the concourse level of the KL Convention Center, just next to the Petronas Twin Towers. A ten-minute walk from Suria KLCC (which is sort of at the base of the towers), an upmarket shopping mall (and home to some bigwig international designer boutiques), through the tunneled walkway, past the underground parking lot, will lead you to the concourse level of the convention center, where you’ll have to make your way through the numerous restaurants on your way to Aquaria. I took my 14-year-old brother to Aquaria as the Petrosains Exhibition Center, located in the vicinity of the towers, is closed on Mondays. The aquarium’s main attraction is the sandtiger sharks, and the highlight on alternative days is feeding time, when the aquarium’s divers hand-feed the sharks.
I paid MYR20 for my ticket (got a student discount) but MYR28 for my brother, who’s considered an adult! The ‘journey’ into the aquarium is in five parts: the Highland, Jewels of the Jungle, Flooded Forest, the Coast, the Living Reef, and the Living Ocean.

Upon entering to begin our ‘journey’, we are greeted by a gallery that provides information on the evolution of fish. Sadly, I think I missed parts of that exhibit as I was more interested in discovering the creatures that were housed in glass cases all along both sides of the wall. These creatures are those that can be found in the local rainforests, such as tarantulas, geckos, the green tree snake, as well as snapping alligator turtles and poison dart frogs! Who knew there were poisonous frogs??

It took us a while to cover all the creatures on display, as my brother indulged himself by reading up on every bit of information on each of the animals, while regaling me with quips of his own!! After the longest 30 minutes of my life (I only wanted to check out the sharks in that underwater tunnel thingamajig!), we headed down a wooden staircase to the flooded forest, and the first thing you see is this enormous tube tank, in what is called a “flooded forest”, with aquatic wildlife such as catfish swimming around in this 5.3meter high tank that holds what looks like a really old tree trunk from the rainforest.

The floor also contained “touch pools”, which were about 3-4 feet high that enabled visitors, especially children, to see and pet, the fish and other underwater life, like starfish, up close. As we walked the length of the pool, we came across what looked like a territorial brawl, between some baby sharks! That didn’t seem to faze some catfish and baby stingrays from enjoying their time in the pool. :P

After experiencing our close encounters with the undersea kind, we headed into the tunnel aquarium!! This was the money maker, where the highlight of the aquarium is the mini school of sandtiger sharks, swimming just above you. As we entered the tunnel, we had a choice to get onto a walkalator-type path or the "escape route", if you wanted to take your time and ooh and ahh at the sharks and several manta rays that pass above your head. With all the excitement, I almost forgot to enjoy the living reefs that were in tunnel aquarium, which were home to the numerous other sea life on display there.

Exiting the tunnel, my brother and I noticed a crowd of visitors had gathered in front of a large glass display made to look like a screen, with drawn curtains. Apparently, this is where the feeding of the sharks takes place. The kids were told to sit themselves on the floor in front of the screen so that they could enjoy the feeding session. By the time the announcement was made about the sharks' lunch time, the crowd had unfortunately swelled, so we didn't get to see much of what was going on. After ten more minutes of hanging around the viewing area, and jostling for places with trigger-happy folks (with their darn flash going off every few seconds!), we moved on to the last section of the aquarium with smaller tube tanks featuring marine mollusks, other types of starfish and marine life.

The fossil of a jaw of shark (not sure which species, but it was huge!) marked the end of everything there was to see in Aquaria. As with most tourist attractions, no exit was complete without a souvenir shop to bring back with you a memory of your visit. Soft toys, t-shirts as wells as stationery of marine life were some of the souvenirs available for purchase.

If you think all aquariums are the same, you should still check out Aquaria when you're in the KLCC area, but only if you want to do more than just take pics of the twin towers and hang out at the KLCC park.