Special Economic Zone

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Upon reflection, sometimes it seems a miracle that have gotten this far.  Normally, I am, well, pretty normal.  September, too.  But there are a few things that can cause me to become mentally unstable.  And September frankly has a genetic deficiency that is manifested at utterly inappropriate times, as illustrated below.

After our frigid Yangzi River Cruise, we headed to southern China, to the city of Guilin, where we thought that surely we would find warmer weather.  I believe that the planet is undergoing Global Cooling, because as we rode bicycles around the area's famous Dr. Suess-like towering limestone formations, our hands and faces froze and we decided that our only hope for redemption was to head for reputedly steamy Hong Kong.  Before we left mainland China, we had to pass through the border city of Shenzhen.

We never expected to have this type of fun in China!

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The "Special Economic Zone" of the city of Shenzhen is the last stop as one heads south to the "Hong Kong Special Administration Region."

I really don't know what is "special" about the "Special Economic Zone" of Shenzhen, but our guidebook told us that the first McDonalds of mainland China was built here some 10-ish years ago.  We were combing through our guidebook's writeup on Shenzhen, with the normal  "...blah blah blah restaurants, blah blah blah nightlife, blah blah blah museums."

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Our guidebook summarized Shenzhen as not interesting enough to warrant more than passing through on the way to Hong Kong, but then in the middle of a sentence was the offhand citation "...and the city's theme parks are found at the end of the subway line."  Theme Parks?  Plural? Typical guidebook, written by a boring grown-up.  The chance to ride a rollercoaster more than warrants a stop in any city.

In our travels we've been to the self-described Venice of Germany, the Switzerland of China, even the Grand Canyon of Iceland.  So in the true spirit of labeling, Shenzhen is hereby the Orlando of China.  The place is totally cool!  There are no less than four theme parks of various kinds, all connected by an elevated monorail line.

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We started at a park called "Windows of the World," which contains large replicas of the major natural and man-made monuments of the world.  For example, we visited the Taj Mahal, walked through a huge model of the Grand Canyon, complete with the rushing Colorado River, and took an elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  Underneath Switzerland's Matterhorn is an indoor ski area, and inside the rainforests of South America is four-story high rock climbing wall.  We never expected to have this type of fun in China!  Of course, we were reminded of the country we were in by the somewhat surly park attendants who clearly had not undergone Disneyland training. We accepted as our mission to try and get one of the attendants at the toboggan ride to smile, and after we rode multiple passes through, smiling and waving frantically, he finally cracked a grin for about two milliseconds.

After Windows of the World we visited "Happy Valley" which sported roller coasters and other high-adrenaline rides on par with any Six Flags or Paramount park in the U.S.  Both parks were incredibly cheap -- about $12 U.S. per person.  The Chinese may try to look permanently grumpy, but it's all a facade.