The Siam Paragon

There was such hype at the previous track event about the Paragon in Siam that I'd decided to do a simple search on what all this talk is about.

Here's a simple write up of The Paragon in Siam (I'm not sure if this is what you guys meant).

"Siam Paragon is an upscale shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand. It is one of the biggest shopping centers in Asia. Opened on December 9, 2005, it includes a wide range of stores and restaurants as well as a multiplex movie theater (consisted of 15 large size theaters with one of the them having the biggest screen and seating capacity in Asia) and the Siam Ocean World aquarium (the largest aquarium in South East Asia) and an exhibition hall and also an opera concert hall. It also has a large bowling alley and karaoke center. It is a joint venture by Siam Piwat, the company that owns the adjacent Siam Center/Siam Discovery shopping malls, and The Mall Group, which also owns The Emporium. Siam Paragon has attracted large crowds since it opened, but financial results aren't reported by the privately held Siam Paragon Development.

History
Siam Paragon was built on the former location of the Siam Intercontinental Hotel, which was torn down in 2002 at the end of its lease. The site, leased for 30 years, is Bureau of the Crown Property land and at one time was the royal parkland of the Srapatum Palace. During the mall's construction, waiting passengers on the Bangkok Skytrain's Siam station platform could watch the building take shape. Now the Siam station platform has one of the best views of the mall's raised courtyard, where many expositions and events are held. Often people will purchase a one-station trip ticket (with which they can leave the same station from where they purchased the ticket) simply to watch performances or other happenings on the courtyard.

When the mall opened on December 9, 2005, workers were still putting on finishing touches. During the first few months of its opening, there were signs of a hurried finish throughout the building, with unpainted ceilings and cracked floor tiles.

It was built at a cost of about 15 billion baht and covers an area of 52 rai (8.3 ha, 21 acres).

Three days after the grand opening of the Siam Paragon, a 10-year-old girl fell five metres through a gap on the main floor to the floor below. Matarika Kijjapathoomsak, or Nong Meena has been playing around a water garden on the main floor when she slipped through a space between a water garden and an elevator, dropping to the ground floor. She later died of her injuries. A visit by the Bangkok Post to the accident scene found no warning signs had been put up to tell visitors of the possible danger posed by the gap in the floor that Nong Meena slipped through. Only a line of plant pots were placed there as a temporary barrier to prevent shoppers from slipping into the three-metre-wide gap." - adapted from Wikipedia

Here's the Siam Paragon's official website for your perusal http://paragonbangkok.tripod.com/

There's also news of a Paragon that will be built at Gurney Drive, Penang, sited where the Uplands School was situated. But there's no confirmation yet as the project is on hold, and pending further enquiries.