I flew from Chongqing to Wuhan on an early morning flight, eventually getting to my hotel at around 9am. I fully expected to just have to leave my bags and head out, but they let me check in early, which was great.
The weather was s**te though. It was raining when I landed and still pissing down when I got to the hotel. My original plan was to hit Happy Valley since it was a Friday. I only had two days here and wanted to avoid Happy Valley at the weekend. The heavy rain had stopped by about 11, but it was still drizzling and generally s**ty. I figured that Happy Valley at the weekend, with hopefully clearer weather, would be vastly preferable to Happy Valley in the rain, given that they run their parks like a bunch of c**ts and close their coasters if a sparrow so much as s**ts on them.
Instead, I decided to do a cred run to a couple of crappy parks, figuring, correctly, that even without great weather, since they were pay-per-ride, they’d make more effort to get stuff running.
Wuhan Zhongshan Park
This was yet another Chinese city park with an amusement park section. The rides here were a lot more spread out though, as opposed to the usual crammed on a concrete slab in a far corner. It was really easy to get to since it had its own station on the Metro.
The weather is clearly miserable which makes the place look really drab, but it was actually pretty nice. With it being a Friday morning and with crap weather, the place was predictably empty.
The amusement park was, as per **** ing usual, at the opposite end from where I’d entered.
Have a bunch of random rides. There were a few things that weren’t open, most notably the log flume and a Top Scan knock-off, but most things were running. I say running, I mean “open” as nobody was riding anything.
There was a rapids ride, which looked like it hadn’t been operational for quite a long time. It was very weird to see one at all in this type of park though.
With all these crowds, you’d think they’d have more than one ticket window open.
The first coaster I rode here was also the biggest, but was just a typical Chinese loopscrew.
There was also a jungle mouse.
Along with some rather disconcerting cars just lying on the ground at the side of the track. Yes, this was open.
There was a new coaster under construction, a Golden Horse MotoCoaster. According to RCDB, it was due to open just a few days after I was there. It was a tad annoying to miss it by such a short timeframe, but it couldn’t be helped and I knew that it wouldn’t be open.
The park was supposed to have a spinning coaster, but looking at the park map, it’s clear that it’s been removed as the MotoCoaster is sitting in exactly the same spot. There were also, according to the map, a few flat rides in the area, including a shot/drop tower, but they’ve also been removed.
I’d expected to get three coasters, but the spinner was gone and its replacement wasn’t open yet. However:
Surprise, non-listed Golden Horse Fruitworm!!!!
So I ended up getting the three creds I’d expected, just not the exact coasters.
After this place I got a taxi to Wuhan Zoo.
Wuhan Zoo
This place was set in a huge area of land, with massive lakes all over it, which made me think that it might be an ok kind of zoo given that they had so much space.
The amusement park section was close to the entrance, while most of the animal enclosures were miles away on the other side of the lakes.
Some Disney characters welcome you to the park:
But what’s that through the amazing castle entrance?
Yep, a huge, blue metal fence that completely surrounds the amusement park area.
F**k you, Mickey. And your whore of a girlfriend.
Now, I think I might have **** ed up slightly in the planning of this. I could’ve sworn that RCDB had this place listed as having two coasters, but looking at it now, it has them listed as closed since 2011. I don’t think it would’ve been “backdated” like that, so I think I somehow got things mixed up during the planning.
Anyway, here are some pictures of what you can see over the fence. Well, for the most part you can’t unless you have a bit of a climb up and cut your hands on the sheet metal, which I obviously did.
SPITE!
I honestly don’t know how I could’ve **** ed it up this badly, but at the same time can’t see how/why RCDB would’ve been updated after my visit with such old pictures.
Since I was there anyway, with no real plan for the rest of the afternoon, I decided to take a look at the zoo. It was the most vile, depressing place I’ve ever been to in my life. I’m kind of loathe to even post pictures, but I think people should see it really.
Like other Chinese zoos, they had huge enclosures for animals that really didn’t need them, and then ridiculously small, bare cages for animals that need more space and stimulation.
The hippo enclosure was really small, and absolutely filthy.
Obviously, the grim weather isn’t helping the look of this place. The truth is that as a park, rather than a zoo, it would be gorgeous since it’s huge, has lots of lakes and ponds and is very green.
I’m just realising that I took a lot fewer photos at this place than I’d thought. Again, the panda enclosure was just a concrete shed. I’ll be fair and point out that there was a small, grassy outside area as well; the pandas just weren’t using it.
I just find it so incredibly strange that a lot of Chinese zoos just shove pandas in any old craphole enclosure. Sure, they’re no different to other bears in terms of their needs, but when they’re viewed as a real national treasure, and the restrictions/demands placed on foreign zoos who borrow/rent them are so ridiculously high, it reeks of double standards.
Another common sight in Chinese zoos is that you’ll see some big cats, and other large carnivores, with access to large, outdoor enclosures:
While others are just stuck in tiny concrete cages with no access to those areas.
I don’t know what this was about as there was nobody else around, but for £1 something would happen with these big cats. I’m assuming it’ll be something like being able to throw a bit of meat at them or something, but I’ve really got no idea.
The absolute worst thing though was an albino bear – not a polar bear, an albino brown bear – which the park were obviously really proud of as they had a lot of signs up. The animal has clearly gone completely insane though. Seriously, don’t watch this if you get easily distressed.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78GX7smz3_s&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
I really wish I had just called it a day when I realised the amusement park was closed, instead of genuinely upsetting myself by going into the zoo section. I was basically taken in by the really nice setting, but as far as the animal enclosures go, it’s by far the worst I’ve ever seen.
Anyway, after leaving the park I had a massive ballache trying to get out of the area. I hadn’t realised, but from around 3pm, it’s basically impossible to get a taxi for a couple of hours. ALL of the taxi drivers change shifts at exactly the same time, meaning that they switch on their “occupied” light and don’t pick anybody up as they’re supposed to get back to base. Some taxis would stop and take people if they were going in the same direction, but it was impossible for me to do this.
I wanted to go to one of the famous tourist sites in Wuhan, the Yellow Crane Tower, but it was pretty far away, meaning that no drivers were heading that way. I gave up that tactic after about 20 minutes, and tried to get a taxi back to the hotel. There were absolutely loads of taxis coming past, but literally all on a shift change, and only about one in twenty even slowed down to see where I was heading.
After having no luck trying to get to the hotel, I thought I’d try getting back to Zhongshan Park since I had that printed out in Chinese, it wasn’t too far, and there was a Metro station there that I could use to get back. Again, nothing. It was just the most absolutely ridiculous system I’ve ever come across. Granted, it’s a quiet part of the day in terms of getting passengers, but to have every driver in an enormous city change shifts at the exact same time is nothing short of **** ing retarded. I was kind of annoyed at myself for not knowing the word for Metro, since getting to any station would’ve been fine, and a lot of those drivers would definitely be driving past one.
After an hour of trying to get a taxi, not just from outside the zoo, but from multiple busy roads near it, I decided to just cut my losses and walk to the nearest Metro station, which was 45 minutes away. It was raining again by this point, which added to my enjoyment. Obviously, if I’d known that getting a taxi was going to be so impossible at that time I would’ve just walked straight away, but there was just no way of knowing.
The walk itself could’ve been quite nice if the weather hadn’t been so gross. There were proper, wide cycle paths and pedestrian footpaths which were set off from the main roads with trees. It’s a shame the weather was so crap really.
By the time I finally got back to the hotel it was around 5pm, the weather was still crap and I just couldn’t be **** ed to do anything.
So yeah, the day was a bit of a bust really. I just got three new coasters, but spent the whole day to get them. Wuhan seemed a lot nicer than Chongqing at least – there’s lots of lakes and green space – but the weather and the difficulties in getting a taxi just put a real s**tter over the whole day.
I also didn't get any time the next day to see anything of the city, which was a bit disappointing. If I'd have known then what I know now, I probably wouldv'e taken a day off Chongqing and spent it in Wuhan instead.
Anyway, next up: Happy Valley Wuhan
The weather was s**te though. It was raining when I landed and still pissing down when I got to the hotel. My original plan was to hit Happy Valley since it was a Friday. I only had two days here and wanted to avoid Happy Valley at the weekend. The heavy rain had stopped by about 11, but it was still drizzling and generally s**ty. I figured that Happy Valley at the weekend, with hopefully clearer weather, would be vastly preferable to Happy Valley in the rain, given that they run their parks like a bunch of c**ts and close their coasters if a sparrow so much as s**ts on them.
Instead, I decided to do a cred run to a couple of crappy parks, figuring, correctly, that even without great weather, since they were pay-per-ride, they’d make more effort to get stuff running.
Wuhan Zhongshan Park
This was yet another Chinese city park with an amusement park section. The rides here were a lot more spread out though, as opposed to the usual crammed on a concrete slab in a far corner. It was really easy to get to since it had its own station on the Metro.
The weather is clearly miserable which makes the place look really drab, but it was actually pretty nice. With it being a Friday morning and with crap weather, the place was predictably empty.
The amusement park was, as per **** ing usual, at the opposite end from where I’d entered.
Have a bunch of random rides. There were a few things that weren’t open, most notably the log flume and a Top Scan knock-off, but most things were running. I say running, I mean “open” as nobody was riding anything.
There was a rapids ride, which looked like it hadn’t been operational for quite a long time. It was very weird to see one at all in this type of park though.
With all these crowds, you’d think they’d have more than one ticket window open.
The first coaster I rode here was also the biggest, but was just a typical Chinese loopscrew.
There was also a jungle mouse.
Along with some rather disconcerting cars just lying on the ground at the side of the track. Yes, this was open.
There was a new coaster under construction, a Golden Horse MotoCoaster. According to RCDB, it was due to open just a few days after I was there. It was a tad annoying to miss it by such a short timeframe, but it couldn’t be helped and I knew that it wouldn’t be open.
The park was supposed to have a spinning coaster, but looking at the park map, it’s clear that it’s been removed as the MotoCoaster is sitting in exactly the same spot. There were also, according to the map, a few flat rides in the area, including a shot/drop tower, but they’ve also been removed.
I’d expected to get three coasters, but the spinner was gone and its replacement wasn’t open yet. However:
Surprise, non-listed Golden Horse Fruitworm!!!!
So I ended up getting the three creds I’d expected, just not the exact coasters.
After this place I got a taxi to Wuhan Zoo.
Wuhan Zoo
This place was set in a huge area of land, with massive lakes all over it, which made me think that it might be an ok kind of zoo given that they had so much space.
The amusement park section was close to the entrance, while most of the animal enclosures were miles away on the other side of the lakes.
Some Disney characters welcome you to the park:
But what’s that through the amazing castle entrance?
Yep, a huge, blue metal fence that completely surrounds the amusement park area.
F**k you, Mickey. And your whore of a girlfriend.
Now, I think I might have **** ed up slightly in the planning of this. I could’ve sworn that RCDB had this place listed as having two coasters, but looking at it now, it has them listed as closed since 2011. I don’t think it would’ve been “backdated” like that, so I think I somehow got things mixed up during the planning.
Anyway, here are some pictures of what you can see over the fence. Well, for the most part you can’t unless you have a bit of a climb up and cut your hands on the sheet metal, which I obviously did.
SPITE!
I honestly don’t know how I could’ve **** ed it up this badly, but at the same time can’t see how/why RCDB would’ve been updated after my visit with such old pictures.
Since I was there anyway, with no real plan for the rest of the afternoon, I decided to take a look at the zoo. It was the most vile, depressing place I’ve ever been to in my life. I’m kind of loathe to even post pictures, but I think people should see it really.
Like other Chinese zoos, they had huge enclosures for animals that really didn’t need them, and then ridiculously small, bare cages for animals that need more space and stimulation.
The hippo enclosure was really small, and absolutely filthy.
Obviously, the grim weather isn’t helping the look of this place. The truth is that as a park, rather than a zoo, it would be gorgeous since it’s huge, has lots of lakes and ponds and is very green.
I’m just realising that I took a lot fewer photos at this place than I’d thought. Again, the panda enclosure was just a concrete shed. I’ll be fair and point out that there was a small, grassy outside area as well; the pandas just weren’t using it.
I just find it so incredibly strange that a lot of Chinese zoos just shove pandas in any old craphole enclosure. Sure, they’re no different to other bears in terms of their needs, but when they’re viewed as a real national treasure, and the restrictions/demands placed on foreign zoos who borrow/rent them are so ridiculously high, it reeks of double standards.
Another common sight in Chinese zoos is that you’ll see some big cats, and other large carnivores, with access to large, outdoor enclosures:
While others are just stuck in tiny concrete cages with no access to those areas.
I don’t know what this was about as there was nobody else around, but for £1 something would happen with these big cats. I’m assuming it’ll be something like being able to throw a bit of meat at them or something, but I’ve really got no idea.
The absolute worst thing though was an albino bear – not a polar bear, an albino brown bear – which the park were obviously really proud of as they had a lot of signs up. The animal has clearly gone completely insane though. Seriously, don’t watch this if you get easily distressed.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78GX7smz3_s&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
I really wish I had just called it a day when I realised the amusement park was closed, instead of genuinely upsetting myself by going into the zoo section. I was basically taken in by the really nice setting, but as far as the animal enclosures go, it’s by far the worst I’ve ever seen.
Anyway, after leaving the park I had a massive ballache trying to get out of the area. I hadn’t realised, but from around 3pm, it’s basically impossible to get a taxi for a couple of hours. ALL of the taxi drivers change shifts at exactly the same time, meaning that they switch on their “occupied” light and don’t pick anybody up as they’re supposed to get back to base. Some taxis would stop and take people if they were going in the same direction, but it was impossible for me to do this.
I wanted to go to one of the famous tourist sites in Wuhan, the Yellow Crane Tower, but it was pretty far away, meaning that no drivers were heading that way. I gave up that tactic after about 20 minutes, and tried to get a taxi back to the hotel. There were absolutely loads of taxis coming past, but literally all on a shift change, and only about one in twenty even slowed down to see where I was heading.
After having no luck trying to get to the hotel, I thought I’d try getting back to Zhongshan Park since I had that printed out in Chinese, it wasn’t too far, and there was a Metro station there that I could use to get back. Again, nothing. It was just the most absolutely ridiculous system I’ve ever come across. Granted, it’s a quiet part of the day in terms of getting passengers, but to have every driver in an enormous city change shifts at the exact same time is nothing short of **** ing retarded. I was kind of annoyed at myself for not knowing the word for Metro, since getting to any station would’ve been fine, and a lot of those drivers would definitely be driving past one.
After an hour of trying to get a taxi, not just from outside the zoo, but from multiple busy roads near it, I decided to just cut my losses and walk to the nearest Metro station, which was 45 minutes away. It was raining again by this point, which added to my enjoyment. Obviously, if I’d known that getting a taxi was going to be so impossible at that time I would’ve just walked straight away, but there was just no way of knowing.
The walk itself could’ve been quite nice if the weather hadn’t been so gross. There were proper, wide cycle paths and pedestrian footpaths which were set off from the main roads with trees. It’s a shame the weather was so crap really.
By the time I finally got back to the hotel it was around 5pm, the weather was still crap and I just couldn’t be **** ed to do anything.
So yeah, the day was a bit of a bust really. I just got three new coasters, but spent the whole day to get them. Wuhan seemed a lot nicer than Chongqing at least – there’s lots of lakes and green space – but the weather and the difficulties in getting a taxi just put a real s**tter over the whole day.
I also didn't get any time the next day to see anything of the city, which was a bit disappointing. If I'd have known then what I know now, I probably wouldv'e taken a day off Chongqing and spent it in Wuhan instead.
Anyway, next up: Happy Valley Wuhan
