Sunken Boeing 747 to be highlight of world’s largest underwater theme park in Bahrain
- Morbid attraction recalls Universal Studios Hollywood’s live-action Screen Test Theatre of the 1970s when the California theme park urged tourists to ‘Come survive the crash from Airport ’77!’
The world’s largest underwater theme park should open off the coast of Bahrain sometime in the next few months. The 100,000-square-metre “eco-friendly” facility will have as its unlikely centrepiece a submerged Boeing 747 – reportedly divested of all potentially harmful and hazardous contents.
Some might consider this a rather morbid attraction, and a promotional computer-rendered image of a Boeing 747 resting on the ocean floor is oddly reminiscent of the 1977 disaster film, Airport ’77. This third entry in the four-part Airport movie franchise featured a private Boeing 747 crash-landing in the sea during a hijack attempt, then sinking beneath the waves with passengers and crew, and divers attempting a rescue.
This went on for a few years and several people have uploaded their old copies to YouTube (search for “Airport 77 screen test” – they make for amusing viewing). There’s also a clever and unofficial four-minute “Airport 77 fantrailer” presenting the film in condensed form, which is worth watching first if you haven’t seen the original.
British Airways to mark ‘100th’ birthday with Boeing 747 painted in retro livery
A Boeing 747 repainted in the livery of predecessor BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) will help British Airways mark its 100th birthday when the plane is rolled out next month. Three other aircraft will be presented in retro liveries “in due course” but details have yet to be announced.
Hanging from those corporate branches are many minor airlines – such as Daimler Airway, Handley Page Transport, British Marine Air Navigation and Instone Air Line – as well as the legendary Imperial Airways, but British Airways will probably stick with lower-hanging and more familiar relatives such as British European Airways, which merged with BOAC to form British Airways 45 years ago.
Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo monorail to close in November
The monorail train inside Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo was reported to be “the first in the East” when it was officially opened – with a chimpanzee called Susie cutting the ribbon – in December 1957. Comprising two carriages slung beneath a single rail, it was a pilot project that the city hoped (in vain) would end traffic congestion, but it remains the only monorail of its type in the country.
The 300-metre ride, which only lasts only 90 seconds and costs just 150 yen (US$1.4), will sadly close in November, with no word of when, or even if, it will reopen.
Deal of the week - two nights in Singapore from HK$2,460
Jebsen Holidays is selling a Singapore package that starts from HK$2,460 per person (twin share) for two nights at the colourful and popular Oasia Hotel Downtown. Up in the Orchard Road area, the Hilton, Grand Hyatt and Jen Orchardgateway are all offered from just under HK$3,000.
Slightly more expensive choices include the Andaz (from HK$3,410) and The Fullerton (from HK$3,660). These prices will be available from February 10 until the end of March, but with the usual Singapore midweek surcharges of several hundred dollars per room-night from Monday to Thursday. Flights with Cathay Pacific and daily breakfast are included.
