Mastering the Macarena

The crew kick back on their day off by watching MTV's Top 100 One Hit Wonders. In at number 6: Los Del Rio with 'The Macarena'. Here Content Directors Steve and Bev brush up on the moves!

FYI: Number 1 was 'Ice Ice Baby' (for which Steve knows all the words!).

For a bit of light relief on this 'little Friday', the below is republished from a blog run last year from Panama (and many of these appeared in MTV's countdown):

'My Top 10 worst novelty records with tacky tropical flavour:

Black Lace - 'Agadoo'
Los Del Rio - 'Macarena'
Las Ketchup - 'Asereje (The Ketchup Song)'
Bombalurina - 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini'
Bobby McFerrin - 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'
DJ Otzi - 'Hey Baby'
Lou Bega - 'Mambo No.5'
Baltimora - 'Tarzan Boy'
Little Eva - 'The Loco-Motion'
Spitting Image - 'The Chicken Song'

Incidentally, the B-side of the 7" release of the last on this list is called 'I've Never Met A Nice South African'...'

PS. The Norwegians are hosting the weekly island hoedown tonight - I hope none of the above make it onto the playlist!

Seribuat Sunset

The clouds here are clearly defined, crisply-edged and often ominous, and sunsets can be stunning. Unfortunately the splendour can't really be captured on camera - especially one in the hands of an amateur like me - but this is the view to the West from Besar Island at about 7pm...

The Middle of Nowhere

A small island in the midle of the South China Sea. With its cool shaddy cave and surrounded by awesome ocean, one almost craves being marooned in a place like this.

I guess that might change when the hunger pangs and survival urge kick in!

Workbound Beauty

When one's working seven days a week on a show like this, it's easy to forget about the natural beauty all around. I have dreams that star contestants and that are set in Holiday Inns, but everybody seems to be in the process of 'doing' something rather than just letting it soak in. I also have other strange and vivid dreams that I shouldn't be sharing here!

So today let's wallow in the blinding green and azure gorgeousness of the Seribuat Archipelago - sit back and really see it...

Suip Lap Club

I took a long walk on Besar Island a couple of days back to see what I could see. This is The Mirage, the resort down the beach where South Africa threw their crew party the other night.

Fittingly, it now has a second name and a new sign: The 'Suip Lap' Club...

Poolside

The view from right next to the chalet that doubles as my room and office, at the D'Coconut Resort on Palau Besar.

Having a pool within spitting distance is extremely useful, especially on days like today and yesterday, when the temperature soars to the 40-degree mark and cool breezes are at a minimum.

Having a bar serving cold Skol and ice cream right next to the pool is doubly-handy!

The Devil's Triangle

Some creepy goings-ons on the island that this archipelago takes its name from, Seribuat (also known as Sri Buat) from Unexplained Mysteries:

The 'Bermuda Triangle of Johor'

Kuala Mersing fishermen may be as full of tall tales as any of their brethren around the world, but mention the waters around mysterious Pulau Sri Buat and they lapse into fearful whispers.

Here, there are stories of sea spirits, sudden storms, colleagues who never came back, and an uninhabited island nobody wants to set foot on. This 10-nautical mile stretch around Pulau Sri Buat, Kuala Mersing and Kuala Endau has been dubbed the “Bermuda Triangle of Johor”. Pulau Sri Buat has no freshwater but has a well-tended mango orchard, coconut trees planted in symmetrical rows, and a mysterious graveyard.Pulau Sri Buat has a history of danger and death. Perhaps the most baffling case of missing persons occurred in June 1995, when four people vanished mysteriously at sea.

The bodies of Customs officer Mohd Salleh Buang, 48, his son Mohd Najib, 19, his businessman brother Mohd Buang, 45, and cousin Abdul Wahid Othman, 48, were never recovered. They left Triang on a fishing trip near the island and never returned. Their fibreglass boat was found a few days later in Nenasi, Pahang, bafflingly undamaged with their fishing rods and a parang still on board.

In Paradise

It's hell... Hot as hell, that is.I don't mean to gloat - I see that y'all back home in South Africa are in the throes of a cold snap - but it's 35-degrees plus here and as humid as a wet rag.

Here is Palau Basar, in the Seribuat Archipelago, just off the West coast of the Malaysian mainland. And I'm working behind-the-scenes on a rather large reality show.

This blog will be about a TV crew's trials in paradise, and possibly a lot of other stuff. I haven't really decided yet - it's hard to think when your brain is baked...Stay warm (and fuzzy).