Shark diving, Kuala Lumpur
At first glance, downtown Kuala Lumpur wouldn’t exactly be the kind of place you’d think to go diving. After all, at 40km from the sea, this sprawling metropolis isn’t particularly known for its watersports.
But for all its fast-paced and busy city living, KL offers locals and tourists alike the chance to get away from it all and enter an underwater world, bringing you face to face with some of nature’s most notorious and frightening predators.
The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre includes the world famous Petronas Twin Towers, formerly the tallest buildings in the world and an iconic Malaysian landmark.
It is also home to Aquaria KLCC, a 60,000sqft oceanarium slap-bang in the middle of the city. More than 5000 marine species live here, including piranha, a giant octopus, jellyfish and sea horses. A 90-metre transparent viewing tunnel with a moving walkway allows you to face time with them all.
By far the biggest draw, however, is the fact that certified divers can spend time swimming with a wide variety of sharks, including tawny nurse sharks, sand tiger sharks and leopard sharks.
You can also frolic with all manner of turtles, stingrays, eels and a vast array of multi-coloured fish.
The sharks are completely domesticated, making this an entirely safe environment in which to get to know these fearsome creatures. Ahem, allegedly.
For those of you who aren’t fully certified divers – or, more likely, are just a little scared – there is the somewhat misleadingly named Cage Rage. And before you start training for your ultimate fighting debut, this simply involves submersion in a cage, bringing you up close and personal with all of the aquarium’s fish and sharks without getting, well, too up close and personal.
A one-hour dive costs about £80, while an hour in the cage will set you back about £40.
Ice Climbing, Korea
Opportunities for ice climbing abound throughout Korea. Aside from the numerous ice parks and ice falls dotted around the country, there is the O2 World in Seoul, the world’s highest indoor ice-climbing facility.
There are courses for all levels, including technical climbs with overhung ice and other obstacles. Make sure you brush up on your Korean, as the instructors speak very limited English.
Surfing, Canada
Do you ever wish you could catch a wave but the weather’s not quite right and you’re nowhere near the sea?
Fear not, for indoor wave machines, or FlowRiders, found worldwide, will create the perfect wave using high-pressure pumps.
The Maeva flowboarding facility in Quebec is the first of its kind in Canada and is open all year round.
Skiing, Dubai
No, seriously. Skiing in the middle of the desert. It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
This engineering marvel, part of the Mall of the Emirates, features five slopes of varying difficulty, including the world’s first indoor black run. The Snow Park features a 90-metre quarter-pipe for snowboarders; sled and toboggan runs; and a snowball-shooting gallery.
Who said you can’t go from camel to skis in one day?
Sky Diving, Singapore
With locations across North America, Europe, Asia and one in Brazil, Sky Venture has vertical wind tunnels for beginner and experienced thrillseekers alike.
But the largest one is in Sentosa Island, Singapore, allowing you to experience the sensation of a sky dive while also enjoying fantastic views of the South China Sea.
Alternatively, Chekhov, near Moscow, is the first place to have two wind tunnels side by side.
