Is this the most crowded ‘swimming’ pool in the world? Dubbed ‘China’s Dead Sea’ thanks to its ultra salty properties, locals have flocked here to experience the beneficial properties for themselves, resulting a pool completely covered in bodies bobbing around in inflatable rings.
The salty swimming pool is located in Daying County in China’s Sichuan province and over a million swimmers (shouldn’t that be paddlers) visit the resort each summer to cool off. There is just one small section where you can actually see the water – the remainder of the surface is packed with people bobbing about in colorful inflatable rings. In reality the swimming pool goers can do little more than tread water in one spot. And to add to the already crowded atmosphere, somebody lets the wave machine off!
This take on the Dead Sea, is inspired by the real thing in the Middle East. The Chinese resort is an underground saltwater lake which spans some 30,000 square meters. It was designed to hold 10,000 people at a time, which makes it one of the largest swimming pools in the world. On the weekend in the video around 15,000 people turned up for a paddle complete with buoyancy aids.
The good news for poor swimmers (or those that forgot their floating rings) is that thanks to the high salinity levels of the pool, bathers will float on the surface and not fall beneath the water level.
