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"It's very hard to walk about without seeing anything. I was scared of everything around me," says 14yearold student Jirapat Janprasert, a sighted girl who visited the Dialogue in the Dark exhibition. "Now I know how hard it is for the blind."

At the exhibition, visitors in groups of five must walk into three darkened rooms. A blind guide assists them.

Each room is different. One is a garden, the next a pavement setting and the last a bar. Each environment simulates the shapes, sounds and smells one would expect.

How to assist the blind

The different environments allow the sighted to get a taste of life without this sense. Visitors are given sensing sticks to help them.

Panisara Tonguam, 14, says she's surprised to learn her guide is blind. "At first I didn't know this, because I was led easily through every room with him telling us directions.

I've learned how to guide the blind from him. So, if I meet any blind people, I'll know how to help them. This exhibition has taught me that," says Panisara.

The blind experience is part of the National Science and Technology Fair at Bangkok's Bitec until August 22.

Wijitra Suriyakul na Ayudhya, manager of the Dialogue in the Dark experience and a member of the National Science Museum, says it wants people to get used to using their other senses. Vision is the most commonly used sense in daily life.

"We also want the blind to show others that they can do many other things. This way we hope the blind will become more accepted," she adds.

Claudia Bade, manager of Dialogue in the Dark in Germany says the idea started in Europe and has since exhibited in many countries, including Israel and Japan.

"A lot of visitors here wrote in our guest books how interested they had been and how impressed they were with their guides. They really liked the atmosphere," Bade says.

As well as the exhibition, there are other activities - an automation booth with musical robots from Japan, a globalwarming and climatechange area, an earthquake simulator and a digital world where you can enjoy games such as Charles Darwin's Galapagos Experience.