Junk in Chinese is a phonetic work for ‘Joong’ which means a ship. These multi-masts sailing ships were first created by the Chinese around 200 AD. And the world was very close to witnessing the world's largest Chinese Junk ship-cum-luxury hotel Alanzo I, which became a casualty of the global financial recession. Being built at Nagla Bunder, ten kilometers from Thane, the $11,720,995 luxury on sea was set to be a 162 feet long and 33 feet wide timber ship, to cruise Dubai at a six nautical miles per hour.
Created by B S Bhandarkar of the Classicraft Marine Works and funded by a German businessman, the ship was to stand 5-storyes tall, all fully air-conditioned. A night at Alanzo I would cost $20,000. But with the funds drying up, the junk will now hit scrap land as it is being sold to a Virar, India based scrap dealer for a measly $2,546,090 less than 1/5th the original value.
[Mumbai Mirror]
