Thursday 10th November

Today I have an unexpected day off school as it is teacher parent conference day and as I haven’t got a fulltime class (I am English support for a few classes) the parents hadn’t requested to speak to me. Matt and I had a big day planned so it was another early start. Shortly after my alarm went off at 8am, I learnt an interesting fact about my apartment. The bathroom door doesn’t lock! I was just getting into the shower when my roommate, Analisa walked in on me! It was too late for me to do anything but shriek “someone’s in here!” with nowhere to hide as we have a glass shower door! Oh the shame!

Shortly after I dried my hair we were ready to go. I had already prepared “please take us to Happy Valley Amusement Park” on a piece of paper, written in Chinese characters and a badly drawn map of the general area that the theme park was in, so all we had to do was find a taxi! Luckily the taxi driver that alway’s waits outside of my building for me to take me to school was there so we jumped in and thankfully he understood my map and we were on our way. It was a gorgeous day, clear skys, warm sun of roughly 17 degrees C, so much so that we wished we had brought our sunglasses, definitely the perfect day to go to a theme park. It took 40 minutes to get to Happy valley Amusement Park and cost a mere 130 RMB (£13) but as we arrived two men got into the taxi as we were trying to get out (not a big deal, that happens a lot in Beijing) but then a man shouted after us wanting to know where we were from. He had a badge (a bit like an American police badge) and a walkie talkie and asked us again where we were from. I asked him why and he said that there was a problem with the taxi. I didn’t want to get the taxi driver into any trouble as he takes me to school pretty much every day and is always very nice so I was slightly worried about what the problem was, but told the man that we were from Houshayu. The man then asked us how long we were in the taxi for and how much we paid, and I saw that the taxi driver was handing over the receipt to the other man with a badge. I realised that these men were checking up on taxi drivers to check that they weren’t ripping off tourists. I thought that was really good that they were doing that and a lot safer and reassured that there were people around checking up on the well being of tourists (although at the same time I felt bad that the taxi driver was being interrogated, even though I know that it takes roughly 45 minutes to get from Houshayu to the Sanlitun area and that it usually costs around 100 RMB) The man seemed satisfied with our answers and let us go through to the park.

The taxi incident was then quickly forgotten about as we paid 180 RMB (£18) to get into the theme park and were greeted with the sight of a huge rollercoaster! We decided to do the rollercoasters first and started off on the one in front of us, “Extreme rusher” supposedly the biggest, fastest rollercoaster in Asia. Even though it was 11am there were barely any people around and we hardly had to queue at all, then we were sat in the third row waiting to go. I have to say, I have never been on a rollercoaster before that literally takes your breath away. We were at the bottom and a siren went off then we were launched so fast that you couldn’t breathe round the rollercoaster at such a high speed, it was amazing! We both got off (or should I say wobbled off) in fits of giggles and on such a high! We then went in search of the next rollercoaster, Crystal Wing, set in the Atlantis area of the park. We were both surprised to find that there was again no queue and we were on the rollercoaster without having to wait! This one is a lot like Air at Alton towers, you are tilted so that you are looking down, almost in a plank position. The rollercoaster starts straight away with an extremely steep climb to the top, then an incredibly fast drop and loops where you are upside down, it was so much fun. We then went on a train rollercoaster which was good, but a bit of an anti climax after the other two rollercoasters.

By this point, Matt had spotted the log flume and we went over to have a look at just how wet you would actually get, the people coming off looked soaked! I was trying to decide whether to go on it there and then and be wet for the rest of the day or go on it last and be wet all evening. The deciding factor was that it was a nice day and Matt kept saying that we would dry in no time, so I found myself in the queue to buy a waterproof poncho (more like a very thin bin liner with arm holes and a hood) and we were walking through the queuing area to the log flume (once again, didn’t have to wait, we were straight on!). Nothing could have prepared me for the wall of water that hit me (straight in the face) as we made the first drop (which wasn’t even half the height of the big drop that I had been dreading) Matt and I just looked at each other in total shock, my trousers (luckily thin combats instead of jeans as I had changed my mind at the last minute) were soaking through, my bag was however surprisingly dry under my bin liner and I was praying my hair was too (the frizzy hair look is not flattering on me). We then went through this dark creepy cave and climbed up to the big drop where I was pulling the hood as far down my face as I could manage without ripping it and hoping that it would keep me dry. We started down the drop and as we hit the water it was like a sheet of water falling down on you, then there were people spraying us with water guns aswell! We got off the ride in one big sopping mess, but as I pulled off the poncho to put it in the bin I was pleasantly surprised to find that other than my combats (which I just wanted to take off and wring out as the cold, wet material was sticking to my legs) I was actually quite dry.

After I had stopped moaning, we went on to the next rollercoaster, but made a quick stop at the twin tower heroes (one tower takes you up and then drops you from a great height, the other launches you up to the top) we decided to go for the drop and it stopped at the top for a while which really built up the suspense, before dropping down to the bottom. It was really good, but let’s just say that I am glad I hadn’t had my lunch yet! The next rollercoaster, Golden Wings in Snowfield was right next to the towers so we went on that next and I have to say this was my favourite rollercoaster! We got taken up to the top and then it was so fast with at least 5 turns upside down (it may have been more, I found it hard to keep track of which way was up) and it was so much fun, we both came off all giddy and with jelly legs. At this point we decided to go find somewhere to get something to eat when I spotted another, smaller rollercoaster and persuaded Matt to go on it before we went for lunch. It was fun as it span you around as you went along the track, but not quite as big as an adrenaline rush as the other rollercoasters. By this point my trousers were pretty much dry so I’m so glad we decided to go on the log flume then, rather than wait until the end of the day.

We stopped for a quick KFC for lunch and then it was back out for more action, although I persuaded Matt to ease off on going on a rollercoaster again straight away. We walked back round the park looking for the smaller rides that we had seen to have a go on first and that’s when I spotted the zorbing! It was a ball on the lake and I had always wanted to have a go so I went straight for it. Matt stayed on the jetty to take photos as I tried (and failed!) at zorbing! I couldn’t believe how hard it was to stand up on and spent most of the time in fits of giggles trying to stand up, it was impossible!! I just couldn’t get the hang of it so gave up in the end and returned to the jetty to find Matt had videoed the whole thing! We quickly moved on to a ride called the Trojans horse, a ride that suspends you upside down then spins you, really good but a bit of a risk so soon after lunch! After surviving that ride we decided to go back on the rollercoasters, again there were no queues and we did all three sat in the front cars which made it so much better. By this point it was 5pm and we were ready to leave, we got a taxi to Wangfujing where I was planning on taking Matt to the snack street to try out different meats and critters!

We arrived at Wangfujing snack street and I eased Matt in with strawberries covered in syrup on a stick, delicious! Matt then tried a scorpion straight away, no hesitating like I did! We then tried snake (my second time, but still enjoyable) and wandered round the different food stalls. We tried what I thought was sweet potato (it wasn’t it was some kind of burnt pastry that went straight in the bin) and Matt brought something that was a sweet pastry on a stick, we both tried one then that also went in the bin! I brought some roasted chestnuts (they were cold so not very nice) then we brought some grapes in syrup on a stick (not quite as nice as the strawberries, but still ok). As we were on our way out we stopped for one last delicacy, a sea horse which tasted really salty! I was contemplating trying Monkey but it looked very fatty so decided against it. I had promised that I would take Matt to Hooters aswell so we went there for something to eat, then got a taxi home, I just know that I am going to ache tomorrow for our grade 1 field trip!

All the pics are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69851917@N06/sets/72157628139408110/