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Bright and early Sunday morning we all met up in the lobby to head to Happy Valley Amusement Park to celebrate Michael Kim's birthday. After grabbing a quick breakfast, we took the bus to the subway station, and took the subway to another bus stop. Once we got there, the leaders of the group led us astray for a good hour before we realized that there was no bus stop at the station that we had exited, so we all separated and took taxis to the amusement park. Once everyone had made it to the entrance, we were all but hustled by a group of scalpers who had bought group student tickets online and sold them to us for 30 RMB less than what we would have paid.
It took us about another hour to get the ticket situation settled, but we all got in just fine. No adventure in Beijing is blog-worthy if it doesn't entail some level of sketch-a-letch business dealings, right? Since it was a Sunday in the middle of July, the park was PACKED with people. We waited 2 hours in line for our first ride, very reminiscent of Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Ventura, but it was well worth the wait and the pictures were well worth the laugh after stewing in the heat for half the day. We walked around to get some food and drink and play arcade games. An interesting observation I made while walking around the park: while American amusement parks serve burgers, hot dogs, fries, and the like, Chinese amusement parks sell kabobs, noodle soups, fried noodles/rice dishes, and bakery-style buns and "burgers". Also, it's acceptable for random staff members to spray you with water guns because they think its funny. ALSO, they had random floats wtih random Latina/black people salsa dancing every 20 minutes or show (the equivalent, I presume, to Disneyland's parades, except half as magical and twice as weird).
The highlight of the day (and perhaps the trip thus far) would have to be the hamster-ball fun in the lake. We paid 30 RMB for 5 minutes of literally being in a hamster ball leashed to a pole and running around in it on the water. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN, but my oxygen ran out really fast and I just about passed out after 4 minutes of running, bouncing, balancing, rolling, and pure ownage.
Altogether we went on maybe 4 rides throughout the entire day, the last two of which were spinning, twirling, make-you-want-to-hurl-ing ones. The very last ride was constructed like a pendulum with a circular base that spins as it swings back and forth, and we being so ballsy/stupid decided to go on it JUST as it started raining...and thundering...and lightening. It was so scary that as we reached the climax of the ride, we were at the highest possible angle in the park and say a strike of lightening RIGHT in front of our eyes. And then a few of us decided to call it a day because we'd had enough and didn't want to get electrocuted. Also another interesting observation: Chinese people really like to make the most of their fun in that they just buy plastic ponchos and go balls to the wall on all the METAL rides, even if there's booming thunder and lightning in the sky....crazy mo'fo's!
All in all a good weekend. I'm looking forward to a few more epic ones in the coming weeks. See our more information about Beijing Travel Blog.
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