Whale sharks are a beautiful, noble creatures with a very unique pattern on their back. They are still classified as sharks, and are the largest sharks in the world! They feed like normal gigantic whales, eating small little sea creatures, and they do not aggressively feed like most sharks and killer whales. Currently, there are 5 in captivity. Before talking about it with Icecream, I only knew about the one in Georgia. After googling it, I found that there were FOUR MORE IN ASIA!!!
What I love about them is their unique pattern, and their wide faces that give them a permanent, adorable look of wonder.
Their mouths open wide like Kirby :O.
How I came across them is rather embarrassing. I remembered that I read a webcomic where these animals were granted souls and could turn human, yet still maintain their animalistic qualities, instincts, and personalities. I couldn't remember what it was called, but I remember I was linked to her DeviantArt account and I found it again! The whale shark character was rather unimportant at first, so I reread it all for the sake of this post and nostalgia. What I did not realize back then was that this comic was SUPER EXPLICIT! Despite that and the ESL grammar, the artwork is great, and it has an overall riveting story line. When I continued to read past where I had left off, it got really REALLY good and I couldn't stop, hence the delay of this post.
Anyway, here’s his first appearance
Then his first appearance in animal form! (I showed Icecream, and she commented that I definitely would like something like this. It was love at first sight! I’d never even heard of a whale shark before)
Hehehehe.
The comic can be found here. (please don't judge me >__< I was young!!)
Icecream agreed that she wanted to go see these with me. So, we had three choices.
- Kenting, Taiwan, the very south tip of the island, with ~$100USD round trip for bullet train rides.
- Okinawa, Japan, which would require ~$500USD plane tickets to and back (in the peak of tourism season and because we couldn’t cancel either of our already booked AirAsia flights to Japan)
- Osaka, Japan, ~$280 USD round trip Shinkansen (bullet train)
We thought long and hard, until Icecream mentioned that Japan had Japan Railway Passes! Essentially you’d pay a predetermined amount and then you could ride for the allotted time on any JR related mode of transportation! I also remembered that Future-Brother-In-Law (Seastar’s boyfriend of 6 years) had suggested that I get one of these immediately. In the end, we decided on Osaka,and to make it really worth it, we’ve since added other destinations outside of Tokyo to our Japan trip to utilize the Shinkansen.
What a cute mascot.
And this is the Osaka aquarium website. Imma get myself one of those squishy looking Whale Shark stuffed nanermals!!!
I am so excited ^____^
Notes:
**A bit about Icecream: I’ve known her since 8th grade, but we didn’t really become friends until high school. We met in jazz band, and I recall that she didn’t seem interested in being my friend back then. I don’t blame her because I was extra weird when I was in Jr. High hehehehe. No regrets. We’ve known eachother for a little more than a decade.
Me following her around and ‘serenading’ her (I neither knew how to play a ukulele nor sing). It’s too bad I decided not to show faces because she really harassed, and my face is super happy.
She also has a million dollar smile.
Us and others in orchestra pit for a musical.
My drawing of her, when we were planning costumes. I kept sending that same picture with a misleading name so that she’d keep clicking on it. hehehe. It actually started off tame, with just her in the icecream costume, and then it kept getting bloodier and bloodier. (Circa '06-'07?)
LOL. I hope you don't think any less of me...
I LOVE YOU ICECREAM!!
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