Flooded restaurant in Thailand brings delight with swimming fish among diners

NAKHON PATHOM, Thailand (AP) — A restaurant in central Thailand was bursting with a stream of customers coming for a unique dining experience: Enjoying a meal while sitting in flood waters, surrounded by live fish they bring into the establishment.

Since an adjacent river breached its banks 11 days ago, the flooded riverside restaurant has become an internet sensation, drawing customers keen to pose in the lapping brown water or toss fish food to photograph the feeding frenzy.

Families enjoyed lunch at Pa Jit restaurant in Nakhon Pathom province, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Bangkok, with enthralled toddlers gawping at the river fish flapping around their thighs. Wait staff in waders gingerly carried bowls of fish soup or chicken noodles from table to table.

Pa Jit has been a riverside fixture for more than 30 years, said owner Pornkamol Prangprempree. When the restaurant was flooded the first time around four years ago, her heart sank.

“I thought there would be no customer for sure,” she said. “But then there was a customer who posted online showing that there were fish. Then a lot of people flocked here to eat.”

She said floods have boosted her business, with her profits doubling from around 10,000 baht ($309) to around 20,000 baht ($618) per day.

Chomphunuth Khantaniti, a 29-year-old who lives in the same province, was there with her husband and son. She said when she heard, she couldn’t resist.

“I think it’s good, because we can bring the children here. When the children see the fish, they become less fussy,” she said. “I think in Thailand, there’s only this place where you can see fish coming up like this.”

Bella Windy, 63, came to the restaurant because she wanted to feel the fish nibbling on her feet.

“Normally, if the water is very high, the fish will come here. The nature experience here is the highlight of this restaurant and it attracts people.”

Pa Jit can expect another few weeks of inundation, as high tides and the tail-end of the monsoon season keep water levels up.

Though the flooding has brought an unusual boon to Pa Jit, it has devastated many other areas of Thailand. Since late July, 12 people were killed and two went missing due to flooding, according to data from the Department of Disaster Prevention and mitigation.

On Friday, it reported that more than 480,000 people in 13 provinces, particularly in the north and the central, were affected by floods.