History/Background
"The condemned & abandoned New World Mall in Bangkok's Bang Lam Phu district was built sometime in the early 1980's, but only remained open for 15 years before shutting it's doors for good. The reasons for this are multiple, with a history of misfortune, including fire, collapse, and the unauthorized construction of upper floors. The upper floors also made the mall higher than the nearby Grand Palace, which angered locals as it is an understood ‘no-no’ for buildings in the area to be constructed taller than this highly-venerated and historical location.
Due to both shoddy architectural engineering and irresponsible demolition work, there was a collapse in the mall in 2005 that resulted in deaths of nearby vendors. Unfinished demolition of the upper floors also left the building exposed to the elements, resulting 500 meters of completely flooded pond space on the ground floor. This led to an outbreak of mosquitos which became a nuisance in the area. Local residents and vendors then began putting fish into the pond in order to combat the mosquito problem, and the fish multiplied over the years. At one point there were over 3000 koi, mango fish, striped catfish, and other varieties of fish in the unusual habitat. In 2015, the story of the 'abandoned fish mall' went viral and resulted in great public attention Due to safety concerns, the fish were removed with nets with plans to later drain the pond." - Taken from Dax Ward
The Site
I really wish I could discuss access to this place as it's one of the stupidest and riskiest things I have done - especially alone. All I can tell you is that it involved scaling down walls using a thick woven nylon shoelace which was securely attached to the wall like thus;
(this is a real photo of it)
It was one of my favourite explores and a real sense of achievement. The place is crawling with bats... I cannot emphasize how many bats there are here.
There is only one way in/out and I was constantly getting spooked by the sound of a fish jumping out of the water on the main floor, or a sudden swarm of bats racing over my head.
So without further ado... The New World Mall
You are able to see the fish here, not exactly the infamous koi that this place was famous for... You can also see how somebodies accommodation backs onto the site.
^ This photo of the roof ^
and the following photo demonstrates the need to watch your step at this place...
Hope you enjoyed it!
I really wish I could discuss access to this place as it's one of the stupidest and riskiest things I have done - especially alone. All I can tell you is that it involved scaling down walls using a thick woven nylon shoelace which was securely attached to the wall like thus;
(this is a real photo of it)
It was one of my favourite explores and a real sense of achievement. The place is crawling with bats... I cannot emphasize how many bats there are here.
There is only one way in/out and I was constantly getting spooked by the sound of a fish jumping out of the water on the main floor, or a sudden swarm of bats racing over my head.
So without further ado... The New World Mall
You are able to see the fish here, not exactly the infamous koi that this place was famous for... You can also see how somebodies accommodation backs onto the site.
^ This photo of the roof ^
and the following photo demonstrates the need to watch your step at this place...
Hope you enjoyed it!
:
