China - Day 11
20/7
Happy Valley
early wake-up call at 7:30 to be picked up at 9. all ready and set waiting in the driveway for 5 mins. 10 mins. at 20 mins we got suspicious. apparently the van hadnt picked up the other peeps either so were like huh? there had been a mix-up with the guides and well our van didnt show up until 10:30. i was mostly just bummed that i didnt get to sleep another hour.
Happy Valley wasnt that far away and it was actually quite good that we showed up late because nothing was open or moving. a lot of the rides didnt open until 12. i really dont understand their logic...and the lines were huge to everything that actually was open. i got the impression that we all as a family would go on the water ride but as we started queuing only 6 of us were actually going. the siblings and feruse didnt want to go on and get wet.
so this is the tale of the line. the line from utter hell. or the LoD, in true otalia fashion. line of doom. we took our places at around 11:30. seeing this line about 100 meters in length maybe. not too long, right. but it was already so hot. sun blaring. and ofc kameil was asked to pose for pix. well the girls asked douglas first, which was really funny, and he gave permission for them to snap away! we got closer and closer to being let in behind the little chain. still took like 15 mins but felt a lot longer. legs already giving out.
so when we finally reach the chain, we think we have achieved some sort of goal, and that we are on our way to the boat looking things. as we turn the corner we see all these zigzag lanes of a gazillion more people. simultaneously we all let out this huge sigh and drag ourselves to the end of the line. frak...and my mood just sinks right away. i already felt apprehensive about the wetness of the ride and my things getting wet and walking around soaked and getting sick. and as im feeling annoyed i get frickin sprayed by a fan with a sprinkler! im like wtf was that?? turns out thats like their thing. blah so for the next hour and a half we were sprayed by these fans that sprinkled water. but in all honesty it did start to feel pretty great being sprayed, after standing there for an hour, when it was desert heat under those suspended covers. and more frustration was produced by the people behind us who were constantly poking their umbrella in my head. then the people in front of us let some chinese bimbos ahead of us in line and i got pissed. my tude was all around! my feet and knees were killing me as we progressed slowly in the line and just as we almost finished the zigzag thing we turned another corner and discovered some more zigzagged people! i was like! mofo this aint worth getting motha soaked! i was thisclose to just jumping out of the line and being bored with the siblings instead of being bored standing up in the queue. then douglas dropped out due to back pain and i was so close to leaving to but for some unfathomable reason i stayed. *shakes head* i must be missing a few screws.
all this time we are standing there, this clown looking dude comes around once in a while and throws frickin water balloons on people!!! it frustrated me beyond belief! i wasnt getting frakking soaked until i had my cover on. and that was another thing. none of us had bough one of those pretty little plastic parkas outside the line and everybody (from our group) was like you probably cant buy them in here, just outside. i was freaking out because my pants were the only thing i didnt want to get wet and it was way to late to jump out and go leave the junk with parents and come back. i needed one of those protective gear thingies. lol i even yelled at a dude who had a bunch of them because we were speculating that he was selling them. alas he wasnt. just looked confused when i hollered and waved at him...
then we finally see the end of the queue and we are sure that its has to be some trick and we are going to have to wait for another hour to even see the real end. thankfully that wasnt the case. we got inside this house, where there was queuing possibilities too. yet it was empty. we couldnt understand why they would make everybody stand outside and die, when ppl could stand inside WITH FANS and not die??
but we made it at last!!! and my freak was settled when i saw a big sign saying "you may buy raincoats downstairs"!! could also be interpreted in the wrong way.
while waiting to get onto the boats i dressed myself in the raincoat. put it on like a diaper to protect my lower extremities as much as possible.
as we were wheeled up to the high point, i didnt really remember the last 2 hours. they do something to you as you sit down in the thing, dont they?? and we see a drop. its the smaller of the two but yea we still got wet. nice drop feeling in your stomach before the flood of water hits you :D like that wasnt enough there were these hoses set up so people on the bridge ontop of us could spray is with water. that was nice of them!
the second drop was bigger and wetter. really, besides getting splashed theres not much to the ride. it was nice to to cool off a bit. even if it left me soaked and i walked around with wet underwear, for all the wrong reasons, for the rest of the day.
so we get out. everybody drenched except me whos like 3/4 wet. all vital parts saved! its already 2 o clock and we try to find a spot for lunch. i had rice with chicken and some weird tomato with egg sauce on it. it was actually really good.
carnival games were played. i think by the time we got out of there everybody had played something. the boys were fans of the ball games. the 'throw it in here' or 'make these fall' games. those felt inane. and there wasnt really any incentive for the games because the prizes where do bad...
sis and i decided to go off and ride a roller coaster. the one we had eyed had the larges queue in the entire place, so that wasnt happening. but after walking for a while, through the kiddie section, we found another one which looked pretty sweet so we went for that one. since we had already queued for 2 hours before we were prepared to stand there for a while but OMG i think we only stood there for like 10 mins and then we were on the ride?!?! we couldnt believe it and got really excited. nothing like the mood i was in while standing in the other one.
the ride was really nice. it was a little short but it had the desired effect. it felt really great to just let go and be flung everywhere. to the sides, up side down. great feeling. i havent been on a roller coaster for years. i laughed the entire time, couldnt stop smiling! chuckling FTW!
but after the ride we thought we should probably go find the others because it was past 4 and we were leaving at 5:30. but we stopped for ice creams. and while in search of toilets we found archery instead. i love archery but i suck at it. it just looks so beautiful. so i payed 20 rmbs for 10 arrows. rip off. i seriously dont have the arm strength for archery. i would love to learn it though. mostly just how to aim. the other stuff works pretty fine. and besides. it just plain cool!
after we found the toilets, as a matter of convenience, we just jumped on the closest ride. it was a thing with seats that spun and turned you upside down to really bad music. dad called just before we got on, and we met the gang at the designated place after getting spun. bella played a little ball game and won a tiny stuffed digimon keychain.
now we were sorta dry. excepts for certain areas of our pants and bras. we were sporting funky looks. it had been really nice to be chilled for the majority of the day. but the sweat was coming back. the heat was intruding. and we also discovered we had lost a battle with the sun. all of us were severely burned in all sorts of places. mostly shoulders, but there were some calves and noses too.
we dragged dad to the archery place. he has a bow and arrows at work so he know how to work that bad boy. lol even so he didnt do all that great. he blamed the equipment. he did win a little teddy bear with a heart though.
as we waited at the gate to leave, the same little girls who wanted to take a pic of kameil this morning asked sis to be pic-ed. that was weird. and its like her 56865th time already!! yea so what, the jealousy is sorta rearing its fugly head. what wrong with my face!?!?
as exhausted as everybody was, the amtos succeeded in ambushing us into tesco! dont know how that happened. but i was so tired and then theres always a 50/50% chance of me going into spaz mood and thats exactly what happened. and the best thing to do in those moods is to embarrass my sister! i was doing stuff from pirouettes, plies to superman moves. oh yea i got some looks too. not like im ever going to revisit that certain supermarket in china again...but when we finally got back to the van, it took some time to get back to the hotel due to rush hour.
we freshened up and then were on our way to the ap. it was like 7:30 already and we stopped for ice creams from the fast food place. we got dogs on sticks with them. i didnt understand how that went together but i scooped up some ice cream with the dog and bit it off. turns out thats really good!? who knew. well apparently Dairy Queen, but i never pictured meat and ice cream meshing...that was a discovery of great magnitude! though i did once dip spring roles in caramel sauce/melted ice cream. also tasty.
nothing remotely noteworthy happened at the ap and we left at who knows o clock.
Happy Valley
early wake-up call at 7:30 to be picked up at 9. all ready and set waiting in the driveway for 5 mins. 10 mins. at 20 mins we got suspicious. apparently the van hadnt picked up the other peeps either so were like huh? there had been a mix-up with the guides and well our van didnt show up until 10:30. i was mostly just bummed that i didnt get to sleep another hour.
Happy Valley wasnt that far away and it was actually quite good that we showed up late because nothing was open or moving. a lot of the rides didnt open until 12. i really dont understand their logic...and the lines were huge to everything that actually was open. i got the impression that we all as a family would go on the water ride but as we started queuing only 6 of us were actually going. the siblings and feruse didnt want to go on and get wet.
so this is the tale of the line. the line from utter hell. or the LoD, in true otalia fashion. line of doom. we took our places at around 11:30. seeing this line about 100 meters in length maybe. not too long, right. but it was already so hot. sun blaring. and ofc kameil was asked to pose for pix. well the girls asked douglas first, which was really funny, and he gave permission for them to snap away! we got closer and closer to being let in behind the little chain. still took like 15 mins but felt a lot longer. legs already giving out.
so when we finally reach the chain, we think we have achieved some sort of goal, and that we are on our way to the boat looking things. as we turn the corner we see all these zigzag lanes of a gazillion more people. simultaneously we all let out this huge sigh and drag ourselves to the end of the line. frak...and my mood just sinks right away. i already felt apprehensive about the wetness of the ride and my things getting wet and walking around soaked and getting sick. and as im feeling annoyed i get frickin sprayed by a fan with a sprinkler! im like wtf was that?? turns out thats like their thing. blah so for the next hour and a half we were sprayed by these fans that sprinkled water. but in all honesty it did start to feel pretty great being sprayed, after standing there for an hour, when it was desert heat under those suspended covers. and more frustration was produced by the people behind us who were constantly poking their umbrella in my head. then the people in front of us let some chinese bimbos ahead of us in line and i got pissed. my tude was all around! my feet and knees were killing me as we progressed slowly in the line and just as we almost finished the zigzag thing we turned another corner and discovered some more zigzagged people! i was like! mofo this aint worth getting motha soaked! i was thisclose to just jumping out of the line and being bored with the siblings instead of being bored standing up in the queue. then douglas dropped out due to back pain and i was so close to leaving to but for some unfathomable reason i stayed. *shakes head* i must be missing a few screws.
all this time we are standing there, this clown looking dude comes around once in a while and throws frickin water balloons on people!!! it frustrated me beyond belief! i wasnt getting frakking soaked until i had my cover on. and that was another thing. none of us had bough one of those pretty little plastic parkas outside the line and everybody (from our group) was like you probably cant buy them in here, just outside. i was freaking out because my pants were the only thing i didnt want to get wet and it was way to late to jump out and go leave the junk with parents and come back. i needed one of those protective gear thingies. lol i even yelled at a dude who had a bunch of them because we were speculating that he was selling them. alas he wasnt. just looked confused when i hollered and waved at him...
then we finally see the end of the queue and we are sure that its has to be some trick and we are going to have to wait for another hour to even see the real end. thankfully that wasnt the case. we got inside this house, where there was queuing possibilities too. yet it was empty. we couldnt understand why they would make everybody stand outside and die, when ppl could stand inside WITH FANS and not die??
but we made it at last!!! and my freak was settled when i saw a big sign saying "you may buy raincoats downstairs"!! could also be interpreted in the wrong way.
while waiting to get onto the boats i dressed myself in the raincoat. put it on like a diaper to protect my lower extremities as much as possible.
as we were wheeled up to the high point, i didnt really remember the last 2 hours. they do something to you as you sit down in the thing, dont they?? and we see a drop. its the smaller of the two but yea we still got wet. nice drop feeling in your stomach before the flood of water hits you :D like that wasnt enough there were these hoses set up so people on the bridge ontop of us could spray is with water. that was nice of them!
the second drop was bigger and wetter. really, besides getting splashed theres not much to the ride. it was nice to to cool off a bit. even if it left me soaked and i walked around with wet underwear, for all the wrong reasons, for the rest of the day.
so we get out. everybody drenched except me whos like 3/4 wet. all vital parts saved! its already 2 o clock and we try to find a spot for lunch. i had rice with chicken and some weird tomato with egg sauce on it. it was actually really good.
carnival games were played. i think by the time we got out of there everybody had played something. the boys were fans of the ball games. the 'throw it in here' or 'make these fall' games. those felt inane. and there wasnt really any incentive for the games because the prizes where do bad...
sis and i decided to go off and ride a roller coaster. the one we had eyed had the larges queue in the entire place, so that wasnt happening. but after walking for a while, through the kiddie section, we found another one which looked pretty sweet so we went for that one. since we had already queued for 2 hours before we were prepared to stand there for a while but OMG i think we only stood there for like 10 mins and then we were on the ride?!?! we couldnt believe it and got really excited. nothing like the mood i was in while standing in the other one.
the ride was really nice. it was a little short but it had the desired effect. it felt really great to just let go and be flung everywhere. to the sides, up side down. great feeling. i havent been on a roller coaster for years. i laughed the entire time, couldnt stop smiling! chuckling FTW!
but after the ride we thought we should probably go find the others because it was past 4 and we were leaving at 5:30. but we stopped for ice creams. and while in search of toilets we found archery instead. i love archery but i suck at it. it just looks so beautiful. so i payed 20 rmbs for 10 arrows. rip off. i seriously dont have the arm strength for archery. i would love to learn it though. mostly just how to aim. the other stuff works pretty fine. and besides. it just plain cool!
after we found the toilets, as a matter of convenience, we just jumped on the closest ride. it was a thing with seats that spun and turned you upside down to really bad music. dad called just before we got on, and we met the gang at the designated place after getting spun. bella played a little ball game and won a tiny stuffed digimon keychain.
now we were sorta dry. excepts for certain areas of our pants and bras. we were sporting funky looks. it had been really nice to be chilled for the majority of the day. but the sweat was coming back. the heat was intruding. and we also discovered we had lost a battle with the sun. all of us were severely burned in all sorts of places. mostly shoulders, but there were some calves and noses too.
we dragged dad to the archery place. he has a bow and arrows at work so he know how to work that bad boy. lol even so he didnt do all that great. he blamed the equipment. he did win a little teddy bear with a heart though.
as we waited at the gate to leave, the same little girls who wanted to take a pic of kameil this morning asked sis to be pic-ed. that was weird. and its like her 56865th time already!! yea so what, the jealousy is sorta rearing its fugly head. what wrong with my face!?!?
as exhausted as everybody was, the amtos succeeded in ambushing us into tesco! dont know how that happened. but i was so tired and then theres always a 50/50% chance of me going into spaz mood and thats exactly what happened. and the best thing to do in those moods is to embarrass my sister! i was doing stuff from pirouettes, plies to superman moves. oh yea i got some looks too. not like im ever going to revisit that certain supermarket in china again...but when we finally got back to the van, it took some time to get back to the hotel due to rush hour.
we freshened up and then were on our way to the ap. it was like 7:30 already and we stopped for ice creams from the fast food place. we got dogs on sticks with them. i didnt understand how that went together but i scooped up some ice cream with the dog and bit it off. turns out thats really good!? who knew. well apparently Dairy Queen, but i never pictured meat and ice cream meshing...that was a discovery of great magnitude! though i did once dip spring roles in caramel sauce/melted ice cream. also tasty.
nothing remotely noteworthy happened at the ap and we left at who knows o clock.