Day Trip to Shenzhen

This weekend we went to Shenzhen to see a remote section of the great wall. As Wes was admiring the wall, suddenly the Earth started shaking and...


...aahhh!! Annettezilla scaled the wall and began attacking the empire!!


Annettezilla in the forbidden city.

Alright, so the more savvy of you readers out there probably figured out that Annette wasn't actually transformed into a giant. Actually we were visiting a theme park in Shenzhen called "Splendid China," which is full of miniatures of China's most famous sights. (And a few not-so famous sights.)

We had not actually planned to go to this park... our original plan for the day was to do some volunteer work in Shenzhen. But, we missed our connection with the group we were meeting with, so we decided we might as well do some exploring in Shenzhen since we were there.


Annette next to a flowering bauhinia tree in the park.


Cultural Parade

Also included in the price of our admission ticket was the "China Folk Culture Villages," an Epcot-style park featuring China's many minority groups. This park had a variety of shows, including a cultural dance spectacular and a horseback battle re-creation.


Equestrian Warriors


A fiery display of horse riding skills.


In part of the park there was a lake where you could pay a few yuan to be zipped up in a plastic ball in order to frolic on the water like some sort of giant floating hamster.


For some reason the Chinese believe that going to a theme park should be a formal event. We were feeling a bit under dressed.


This section of the park was labeled "Trees planted by the most famous people in the world." These famous people included leaders of the Congo, Fiji, and Eritrea. Fidel Castro even planted a tree here. And, a few trees down was this pathetic-looking shrub planted by "his excellency" President George H.W. Bush in the early nineties.


Wes gongs the bell. Why? Because it was there.


Annette in Lhasa. We'll see how it compares to the real Lhasa when we go there this fall.


Tiddlywink? No, Shenzhen subway token. The Shenzhen subway was every bit as nice as the one in Hong Kong and made getting around a breeze.