The Amazing Race Israel comes to Thailand

On the final day of the Songkran New Year festival Wild Planet And Planet Scuba teamed up for one of reality tv’s well known programmes. The Amazing Race is a global competition where teams of two compete for a large sum of cash. They race around the world completing tasks set by the organisers and also the daily challenges faced by world travel with no budget! We were asked to assist in one of those tasks, doing something for us which comes naturally these days – Diving with Sharks !!

The race was already underway and by the time they reached Thailand there would only be 5 teams left in the running. They were flying in from China on separate flights and would then have to make their way to Siam Ocean World at the Paragon shopping centre. Hopefully their chosen mode of transport wouldn’t attempt to sell them a suit or offer them discounted gems on the way. 

Their challenge involved one team member miming a famous phrase through the glass while the other was scuba diving around part of the shark tank trying to find the relevant words for that phrase. It wouldn’t have been too difficult if the contestants knew how to Scuba dive, and of course if there hadn’t been 30 sharks moving around them!

 All contestants had to participate in the same safety briefing before being allowed into the water. Senior Planet Scuba Bangkok Instructor Paul ‘Popeye’ Durrell was in charge of the initial briefing on the surface and gearing up the teams. Next they were led into the shallow section of the aquarium where they met Wild Planet Manager Dave Milne. After a further briefing on safety and a run through of some important Scuba diving skills they were escorted underwater to the challenge zone. Their time limit would depend on how quickly they used the air in the tank! 

 

All the teams managed to complete the task, although some looked far more graceful than others in doing so. For one contestant it looked as though the thought of doing underwater would be too much, but she did it. However it would have been impossible without the assistance of Dave at her side.

The final contestant finished at 11 pm and it was time to let the fish sleep. Where the contestants got to sleep is a mystery only to be solved when the program goes live.

New World Record for Largest Water Fight

Where else but Thailand could you hold such a water fight? I was amazed to discover the previous holders were in Spain. The entire country of Thailand closes down for 4 days each year for the Songkran New Year festival and throws water at each other. Why it has taken so long to achieve the record remains a mystery. With tens of thousands packed into areas such as Khaosarn road and Silom it wasn't going to be difficult to beat the previous record of around 2,600. 

The venue for the record needed to be a controlled environment i.e. so that the organisers could actually count us. An open air stage and arena was constructed outside the Central World Shopping centre in Siam square. The re-construction of which is still ongoing since the damage caused in last year’s 'Red Shirt' protests.

Wild Planet staff Toby Bell and Tan were lucky enough to get to the event in time. The original start time of 5 pm was thankfully delayed until after the 6 pm National Anthem. The Mayor of Bangkok gave a short speech after which the 3,500 + participants drenched each other for 10 minutes! Shortly afterwards the record was announced as being broken and passed on to Thailand. Any country would be hard pushed to take it back without a fight (a watery one that is).

PlanetScuba Thailand's photostream

PlanetScuba Thailand's photostream on Flickr.

Some photo's from the recent AIS Scuba Diving Trip to Thailand

Australian International School Scuba Trip Koh Tao Thailand

It should have been 6 days of learning to dive on the paradise island of Koh Tao in southern Thailand, but the weather had other plans. The 18 students and 3 staff from the Australian International School Hong Kong arrived at the start of the worst flooding to hit southern Thailand in 40 years. With their direct flight from HK to Koh Samui diverted to Bangkok due to strong cross winds, it was an ominous start. So already a day behind due to the flights, we chose to start the academic sessions at the World Resort in the north of Koh Samui. The PADI Open Water course consists of 3 sections, Academics, Shallow water training and then 4 open water dives. The rain had been relentless for 3 days and with no break in sight the Wild Planet / Planet Scuba staff began to fear the worse. Our trusty weather forecaster, Widguru, and soon 2 meter waves were eroding the beach in front of our resort. By the end of our first full day most of the theory work had been completed. 

With the Lomprayah ferry to Koh Tao cancelled for day 2 due to frightening 3 meter waves and all of our scuba equipment trapped by flood water we chose to finish the academics. Thankfully the students kept their spirits high hoping for a change in the conditions so that we might make it to Koh Tao. As the flood waters rose on the main roads around the resort we were looking increasingly trapped.

A stroke of luck in the form of a 4x4 taxi allowed us to reach the besieged equipment store in time for us to start the pool session on day 3. Just as we thought things were going our way the clouds darkened and we were grateful to make it back to the resort. One half of the group would finish their exams while the others started in the pool. As the students had been able to do little more than study their manuals it was no surprise the average score was 92%. For those in the pool conditions were chilly to say the least. Most managed the first few confined sections but it wasn’t the normal pleasant experience it should be.

As the water levels fell slightly we decided to have a day out of the resort on day 4. The chances of getting to Koh Tao were diminishing and news from the Planet Scuba staff there was not encouraging. The Thai Royal Navy had begun to evacuate tourists who had become trapped on the island. In what appeared more as a publicity stunt than a safe rescue, 500 stranded tourists were flown by helicopter to the nearby aircraft carrier. While we enjoyed 10 pin bowling at the Tesco Lotus complex, hundreds were risking a helicopter ride in 30+ knot winds. We realised the right choice to stay on Samui had been made. As we headed back to the resort after an afternoon shopping in what remained of Chaweng the heavens opened again.

Our last full day looked to be the best yet. Conditions had changed dramatically as predicted by windguru, but the visibility underwater was barely 1 meter! It certainly wasn’t safe enough for training dives so we headed out to the few tourist attractions on Koh Samui that were reachable. After a brief stop to feed the elephants at the Island Safari the group chose to spend time feeding fish their dead skin. The global craze of the ‘Fish Spa‘ has also hit Samui. Having several hundred fish chew the dead skin off my feet isn’t my idea of a spa. But as it made the group smile it seemed worth it. Next stop was the Big Buddha statue and temple complex. Even more shopping opportunities were to be had. Our final stop of the day was the stunning beach at Choeng Mon on the north east tip of the island. It was sadly not as beautiful as normal with grey skies and rolling seas. The group as they had done all week made the most of it. Their final night would be spent in Chaweng at the restaurant of their choice. While most chose McDonalds the Mexican restaurant proved a strong favourite.

 The group smiled from start to end even though their dream of scuba diving was not to be realised on this visit. As they flew out from Samui the following morning the sky was blue and already the weather was getting warmer. It was a bitter pill to swallow. The clean-up of the island (and our equipment store) was next on the list for the Wild Planet staff.