Sunday, September 28, 2008

Wenzhou Wonderland

On Saturday, Mr. Jiang took all the Language Center staff to "Wenzhou Wonderland" for the day.

Saturday marked the first day of the National Day festivities, for which we have an entire week off. To kick things off, the Language Center all went to Wenzhou Wonderland, a popular amusement/theme park in the South Wenzhou region. The general style of the park was clearly inspired by Disney World, and the rides/attractions bore a strong resemblance to rides found at the County Fair.

We left Wenzhou City at 10:00, got to the amusement park at about 11, did a few rides, had lunch at an on-site eatery offering Chicked Sandwhiches and Fries (much like Chick-Fillet. Oddly enough, though, in China everything served on a bun is called "Hamburger"). After lunch, we continued through the park.

There was everything from a Tilt-a-Whirl, Bumber Cars, and inversion rides to Bungee Jumping, a Haunted House, and a shooting gallery. Mr. Jiang rode on almost every ride, while a significant portion of the rest of us took a slightly more cautious approach. You might notice there are a few pictures of Shannon and Jeremiah hanging upside-down while spinning in circles- I'm on the other side of the camera.

I'm not sure whose legs are whose, but one pair belongs to Jeremiah.
Here's Shannon, spinning upside-down while the whole thing rotates:
And a zoomed-out look:

Sherry's Fiance took the camera for me so Shannon and I could ride the roller coaster together:

We're in the first car, the second row (behind Jeremiah):

The Carousel:
The Kiddie-Coaster:
The Tilt-A-Whirl (a.k.a. "The UFO"):

I think Jeremiah, Jessica, and Shannon are seated at the lower-most portion of the circle.


The Water Ride! Shannon and Jeremiah coming down the flume:





The weather was very nice- although it was overcast, it was pleasantly cool, not hot or humid.

There was a parade with Clowns on Stilts. Clowns are scary.

There was a tall swirly slide which I neglected to take pictures of. It was probably 25 feet tall. This is me, coming out of the short (15 feet?) swirly side:

The sign coming in to this area was very clear: The Sand is for safety, not for throwing.

It's not a very good picture, but this is Sherry and her Fiance. They're getting married in February in their home-town, about an hour and a half west of Wenzhou. Sherry is the executive assistant at the Language Center, responsible for the Chinese Teaching Assistants and Schedules. She's VERY busy.


The last ride. We're getting ready to go forwards and backwards in a circle, all the way around. It was neat.


Jeremiah took his camera. This picture is correctly oriented for North American audiences.

Jeremiah was able to take a video! I need a pocket-sized camera.


All in all, it was a good day. It was nice to spend some time with the Language Center staff outside of the normal work environment.

Afterwards, Wally took us to the Wenzhou Electronics Mall, where we were able to get D-Link wireless router for about $35 USD. We're pumped.

3 comments:

Alex Mansfield said...

WOW! This looks like a complete blast! Did you guys ever do anything in the States to compare?

jhjessup said...

Our grandparents took us to Disney World in Florida several times when we were younger. It was hard at first to not compare WW to DW and note the deficiencies, but after a few hours it became easier to enjoy WW for what it was instead of seeing everything it wasn't.

Anonymous said...

Fun video- audio actually! Who was screaming?!