HA HA HA Sineas Fock, You Were Wrong! (Watch around the world in eighty days)

If you ever need to travel the world, go to Shenzhen, take the 43 bus to the second to last stop and walk for four minutes. This will put you at the gates of Window of the World, a theme park where the other-side of the world is a five minute walk away. This is not just some corny place with the “Pyramids of Giza,” “Big Ben,” and a couple other attractions. This park’s display is intense. Among the many sites in the park are the Grand Canyon featuring river rafting, the Amazon featuring alpine sledding, the Alps featuring skiing (more on that), and the Eiffel Tower featuring the Eiffel Tower (climbable steps and all!). The river rafting is not as fun as the real deal, but it still is a blast (“Yeah, of Wahater” says one foreigner). The Amazon sledding was closed because that kind of sledding is dangerous in a typhoon.

The Alps induced a lot of pleading. A full size skating rink blasted you with cold air through the main entrance. The only people skating were good at figure skating. A small town made of ice and neon lights created a tubing land. But best of all, the main offer is a down hill slope. Two snow boarders aced all their jumps and rails, stopping inches from the end of the slope. With a mini lift and all, including large tubing ramp, this place is the bomb. But there was no time, and we were exhausted. But we still climbed the Eiffel Tower.

Not nearly as high as the real Tower, but just as impressive, this fake tower costs about 1 dollar to take an elevator to the top. Big binoculars claim you have to pay 1 yuan but really you can see through them without paying. Even though it takes five minutes to go back down, it is very, very fun.

At the almost life size pyramids, you can hitch a ride with a camel. At the Grand Canyon, you can grab a log and go with the flow. I did that TWICE!! At a river side village, you can fish for massive Koi. At a Japanese village, you can get pictures taken with squealing Chinese teenagers with plastic flowers in their hair.

Of course, Window of the World does come with a price. For no rides, the price is the great deal of 120 RMB, approximately 17 U.S. dollars. If you are shorter than 1.2 meters, the half charge rule applies. At the Grand Canyon, river rafting is just over one dollar. For skiing equipment plus clothes it is 10.70 American. To take a mono-rail above the whole park (exclamations and extra stops included), it costs just less than 3 dollars. A camel ride at the pyramids costs 1 dollar. If you want to buy souvenirs, this place is only good if you have money burning a hole in your pocket. Go to a market to buy kissing pigs, ox beads and more where you can bargain. In the Eiffel Tower, beads, fake swords, jade bracelets, and fans are incredibly expensive. Twenty RMB for a bead is expensive to start with, and anti-bargainers are the one thing that you really should avoid. Markets that have a lot of items to begin with and lots of stalls too are very easy to bargain at, therefore making it easier to buy stuff.