Aquaria!

Yesterday, we decided to spend the day at Aquaria. During the Matta fair in September, we had already purchased open tickets to aquaria, so yesterday we took the opportunity to use these tickets.
1. it was a good move to pre purchase tickets; the queue to the ticket counter was loooooong. But one person asked us to go straight in and validate our tickets while the other asked us to join the queue.
2. not so good - we had to validate our tickets at the ticket counter. Purpose of validation? exchange paper tickets for smart cards. I thought the smart cards entitled us to souvenirs or welcome drinks - that would make sense of having to exchange the tickets - but instead, the whole reason for the exchange was so that it could be slotted into the turnstile. Wow. expensive technology, but useless. why not just take our paper tickets, let us in, and do the bean counting offline?
3. good - Lots of info available with user interactive touch screens.
4. Not so good - recorded explanations had poor diction, pronunciation and grammar. Just right for a third world country.
5. good - staff were around to guide, explain and remind people with simple rules like: please do not put you fingers into the water, or "this is a friendly reminder that if u have a digital camera please switch off the flash"
6. not so good - diction and grammar was bad, and people who don't follow (many didn't) got away with it. A lot of people were pushing and rushing, too. I guess the ushers need to improve their grammar, speaking skills and some crowd control skills. And typically, we admonish (e.g please do not bla bla bla) rather than encourage (i.e. fishes die when scared and putting your hands into the pool will scare them).
7. good - we could pose and take pictures with a skunk in a jungle setting
8. not so good - the sign said: pose with a reptile!
9. good - fish feeding session: kids get preferential treatment; they get to sit in front.
10. Not so good - ushers weren't kid friendly and couldn't control the kids! Parents didn't know how to queue, and were rushing!
11. Good - announcements were bilingual and scripted.
12. not so good - bad English! no personality! this is a show, people!
verdict?
if they can improve the grammar, and a little dash of creativity here and there, it would be a really exciting experience. But we need to break the rules a little; learning needn't be boring. And by the same virtue, ushers and instructions needn't be straight laced and boring either; and we need to look a little forward to add a bit of psychology and crowd control.

What I really loved was being able to stay in the tunnel as long as I liked. I managed to sketch the shark while spending time in the tunnel.

There's something magical about watching these creatures swim by in their silent world; ebbing, floating amidst the shimmering blue amidst the rays of light.