Tag Archives: phuket

Waboba Asia Video Competition: Random Inspiration #1

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The closing date for entry to the Waboba Asia Video Competition is September 10. That means you have the whole glorious summer to come up with something. To get you in the spirit, here’s a little piece of random inspiration from Vimeo, a great old video from Matt Harding. But where hell is he??

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

The first prize in the Waboba Asia Video Competiton 2011 is a holiday in Phuket, including flights for two to Phuket from anywhere within Asia, plus two nights in a five-star hotel, plus $700 USD in cash. The competition rules are here.

Waboba Asia Video Competition – Win a Phuket Vacation

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Waboba Video Competition Winners

Thanks to the Mazzarella family, winners of the Waboba Asia Video Competition 2010, for sending us these photos from their weekend at the Hilton Sanya Resort and Spa.

The Mazzarellas won two nights at the Hilton plus 5000RMB in cash when they came first in the Waboba Asia Video Competition 2010. They have been so busy with their ski factory that it took them until now to find time to collect their prize. But we’re told they had an amazing time there with their visiting relatives from Italy.

If you like the sound of a free stay in a five-star hotel, you definitely need to enter our Waboba Asia Video Competition 2011.

This year’s prize consists of flights for two to Phuket from anywhere in Asia, plus two nights in a five-star hotel, plus $700 US in cash.

To enter the competition, you need to shoot a video up to three minutes long, upload it to a video website like YouTube, Tudou or Vimeo, and tell us about the video at competitions@waboba-asia.com.

The style of video is entirely up to you. It can be arty, sporty, fast, funny, but it must have the Waboba Ball in there somewhere, preferably with it bouncing on water.

Here’s last year’s competition winner:

Life’s a Beach and a Ball on Vimeo.

Feeling inspired? Get your camera out and start shooting. This year’s full competition rules are available here.

Driving by Numbers

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The Bionic Salesman
A Journey around Thailand

So much for the rain. The newspapers were full of flood warnings as I set off on the second leg of my journey around Thailand, but it rained only three times on a three-week trip.

Those three rain storms all came on the first day as I drove down the east side to catch the ferry to Koh Samet. The rain came in blocks of sky, an aggravated shout that soon ran out of breath. For a while it was like driving through a liquidiser. Mostly, there was brilliant sun. Continue reading →

Where to Find Waboba in Phuket

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Here’s a quick guide to some of the Waboba stockists in Phuket:

Patong Beach

It’s easy to find the Waboba Balls at Patong Beach. If you drive along Thaweewong Road (the beachfront) until you get to a kink in the road at the junction with Bangla Road, on your left you’ll find KR World Sports. The balls are in there. Stockists in Thailand currently only have the Waboba Extreme Ball. Other balls and beach toys will be coming later in the year. Continue reading →

Big Blue Room with a View

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The Bionic Salesman
A Journey around Thailand

There’s a dive shop every 20 metres in Phi Phi Town, and each one has a tattooed dude from Croydon or Helsinki just dying to sell you a half-day trip to the local dive sites.

But many of the people in the know just keep on walking past these shops and on out to Blue View Divers in the Viewpoint Resort at the eastern end of Loh Dalum Beach. Continue reading →

Island of Two Ps and a Queue

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The Bionic Salesman
A Journey around Thailand

phi phi island

In the hierarchy of traffic accidents, a ding is smaller than a bump, and a prang is bigger than both of them. I dinged the hubcap on the hirecar. To take a break from driving, we took the boat to Phi Phi, chocolate-box island of upside-down cliffs and impossibly concave beaches. Continue reading →

The Swedish Beach

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Hakans BarThe Bionic Salesman
A Journey around Thailand

Pattaya is Russian, Phuket’s Kata Beach is French and Karon Beach is Swedish. Certain beaches pull in certain nationalities.

At Kata Beach, this is easy to explain. Club Med dominates the seafront.

Waboba being a Swedish product, we were pleased, but somewhat bemused, to see the mini-marts at Karon Beach doing brisk business selling what looks like a local Swedish newspaper.

But what draws the Swedes to Karon Beach? It was a mystery to us until we found this (see picture). If you’re Swedish, you don’t need me to tell you that you’re looking at Håkans Bar, one of the most famous (to Swedes) landmarks in all of Indochina.

It was, apparently, the base for some kind of Swedish television program. Was it a documentary or a reality TV show? I haven’t a clue, but I’m told it was immensely popular and it keeps the Swedes coming here.

There are bits of the TV show on Youtube here. Maybe someone Swedish can tell us what it’s all about.

What the Termites Left Behind

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The Bionic Salesman
A Journey around Thailand

If God or Buddha or the Cookie Monster gave you the chance to go back and re-experience any minute of your life, which minute would you choose?

I was thinking about this on top of the hill overlooking Kata Beach.

Almost exactly a decade ago, Misty and I had our honeymoon here in a hotel called the Plub Pla.

There have been a few moments in life when I knew instantly that the memory of them would shine for as long as I could remember anything. In my mind, they are invariably associated with supernatural conditions of the light – a laser beam of sun, a moon impossibly large… God playing with Photoshop.

The Plub Pla

The Plub Pla was a strange and beautiful hotel. You drove up a track through the rainforest and arrived at a sprawling estate of pools, huts, a tower and split-level decking, with views over the canopy of trees down both sides of the island. Continue reading →

Quickie from Phuket

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Been an age since my last post. Now in Phuket with the whole family, kids, grandparents. Struggling with an unreliable cafe wifi and my Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Phuket is every bit as good as I remembered it. In the decade since our last visit, Patong has changed beyond all recognition. Laguna is fabulous. Spent hours driving around lost in our hire car. Broke down once already. Found a super-cheap hotel, then moved to the hotel next door at half the price.

Already found plenty of retailers for the Waboba balls. Now all we need is the balls. They’ve been tied up in customs, but should be out next week.