Posted by
Dabney B. on
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
Malaysia is one of the luckier countries. Their entire nation is a tropical paradise so beautiful and relaxing that people fly by the thousands to their small country just to get a taste of what the Malaysians see every day. I could see how that would lead Malaysians to be a bit stuck up, thinking that everyone else would be jealous of their beautiful homeland. Evidently, that isn’t the case at all; the Malaysians are more interested in sharing their bounty with the rest of the world.
Image: Planning Pool
So when Germany found itself with an absurdly large, abandoned airplane hangar (the largest freestanding structure in the world), the Malaysian company
Tanjong saw an opportunity. They purchased the hangar and all of the surrounding land to transform it into their unique version of a tropical German-Malaysian getaway.
Image: Web Ecoist
They brought in dump trucks of sands, hundreds of tropical plant varieties, and a bunch of the more iconic birds that you always associate with the jungle because of movies like Rio. After turning up the thermostat to a balmy 79° F, you’ve pretty much got the only tropical paradise replica in all of Europe. And to replicate bright Malaysian summer days as much as possible, they gave the steel ceiling dome of the structure a makeover, replacing the metal panels with glass so that natural sunlight would flood the building. They specifically chose glass that would let all UV light through to ensure that local plant life would remain healthy, so be sure to bring
protection.
Image: Web Ecoist
But the Malaysians had to impress Das Germans, after all, the unofficial gods of ingenuity and engineering, so they’d need to do a lot better than piles of sand and a few parakeets to turn German heads. They also threw in a lagoon, a 9-story waterfall, water slides, and an enormous imitation balloon that lifts paying customers high into the sky. Altogether, that officially makes Tropical Islands Resort the world’s largest indoor waterpark.
Image: Web Ecoist
So, if you ever decide to visit Germany, be sure to bring a drinking buddy, pack your lederhosen, and don’t forget your swimsuit. You’ll have to stop by
Tropical Islands Resort if you want to experience the only beach in all of Germany.
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