Last weekend, I did another quick trip across the border, this time going to Guangzhou. This wasn’t a park trip, but I still managed to squeeze in a new cred.
We stayed in the Zhujiang New Town area, across the river from Canton Tower. I’d been to the tower a couple of times, but never this area itself. We stayed in a hotel at the top of this building:
Just across the street is the CTF Finance Centre, which is a few years old, but new since I was last around here. It’s currently the 3rd tallest building in China.
We were too early to get our room, so left the bags and went for lunch and a bit of a walk.
The weather was s**te, and it started pissing down, so we ducked into the Guangdong Museum. They had some temporary exhibition on Victorian art, so we had a look at that (nice enough) and checked out the rest of the museum, which was pretty huge and had dinosaurs, which is always cool.
The hotel was fab. The room had a great view across to Canton Tower. Crap weather though. Surprisingly, the hotel WiFi also connected to everything it wasn't supposed to (Facebook, Netflix etc.) Netflix kept switching regions, so they were obviously using some kind of hotel-wide VPN. Not sure how they're getting away with that, but no complaints. I've got a decent VPN on my phone, tablet etc. anyway - and my phone data goes through Hong Kong - so it's not a problem. It just removed a layer of faff and was a nice surprise.
We ended up walking across to the tower. I’ve been up there a couple of times, but went up again for something to do. I’m done with it now. The full package price, which gets you to the very top level (above the main deck where the rides are) and both of the rides, costs around 40 quid. It’s just such a rip off. One of the drop towers wasn’t open (potentially SBNO). You used to get both of them included, but now it’s just the regular sit-down side. Also, while we were in the queue for the “bubble tram” (basically a horizontal Ferris wheel), it started raining again, so they closed it. We couldn’t be f**ked to hang around. I’ve done it before, but still. F**k that place.
Back to the hotel then.
We didn’t really have much of a plan for the next day, so had a lazy morning in the hotel while deciding what to do. There’s an area with some old colonial buildings which is apparently quite nice and I’ve never been to despite a few visits to Guangzhou now, so I suggested either that or Joypolis. Because of the unpredictable weather, we went with Joypolis even though it was pretty far away (took about an hour in a taxi). We stopped of at the watch market area to nab a few knock-off Rolexes for my dad to flog to his mates, which has now become a pain-in-the-arse tradition whenever I go home.
This is the 3rd Joypolis park I’ve been to after Tokyo and Shanghai, and I can’t say I’m a fan of them. This one, at least, was totally dead, so we didn’t have to wait for anything. It’s part of a new shopping and entertainment complex. It was a Sunday, but it was empty. It could’ve been because China had made it a workday since the previous couple of days had been public holidays, coupled with the fact that it’s not really near much else. They’re building a train/metro line and station right next to it, so that will probably help.
The Joypolis entrance is fab. They had some offer on wristbands, so we ended up trying out a bunch of stuff. I don’t think I’ve seen a ropes course at one of these before. A lot of other stuff I have seen, including the vile Transformers ride/shooting game.
They had the “Wild” trio of simulator rides. I used to think they were great, but they’re very dated now. The motion bases are decent, but they definitely need to upgrade the screen/video quality.
There’s also a cred (why else would I have made this effort), a launched spinner from Jinma rides. It starts with a swing launch away from, and then up, the spike. There's another launch partway through into the final section of the ride. It was really good! Smooth, forceful, fun. I don’t know if they’re outsourcing their launch system, but it was very good. There’s a bit of a dead spot before the launch in the middle as the train comes to a complete stop first. Given the intensity of that section, it makes sense, but Jinma traditionally haven’t done well with transitions between different coaster sections (switch tracks etc.), so I don’t know if that’s part of it as well.
We enjoyed an early dinner at a traditional Chinese KFC before getting back in a taxi for another hour to get back into town for a train back to Hong Kong.
We stayed in the Zhujiang New Town area, across the river from Canton Tower. I’d been to the tower a couple of times, but never this area itself. We stayed in a hotel at the top of this building:
Just across the street is the CTF Finance Centre, which is a few years old, but new since I was last around here. It’s currently the 3rd tallest building in China.
We were too early to get our room, so left the bags and went for lunch and a bit of a walk.
The weather was s**te, and it started pissing down, so we ducked into the Guangdong Museum. They had some temporary exhibition on Victorian art, so we had a look at that (nice enough) and checked out the rest of the museum, which was pretty huge and had dinosaurs, which is always cool.
The hotel was fab. The room had a great view across to Canton Tower. Crap weather though. Surprisingly, the hotel WiFi also connected to everything it wasn't supposed to (Facebook, Netflix etc.) Netflix kept switching regions, so they were obviously using some kind of hotel-wide VPN. Not sure how they're getting away with that, but no complaints. I've got a decent VPN on my phone, tablet etc. anyway - and my phone data goes through Hong Kong - so it's not a problem. It just removed a layer of faff and was a nice surprise.
We ended up walking across to the tower. I’ve been up there a couple of times, but went up again for something to do. I’m done with it now. The full package price, which gets you to the very top level (above the main deck where the rides are) and both of the rides, costs around 40 quid. It’s just such a rip off. One of the drop towers wasn’t open (potentially SBNO). You used to get both of them included, but now it’s just the regular sit-down side. Also, while we were in the queue for the “bubble tram” (basically a horizontal Ferris wheel), it started raining again, so they closed it. We couldn’t be f**ked to hang around. I’ve done it before, but still. F**k that place.
Back to the hotel then.
We didn’t really have much of a plan for the next day, so had a lazy morning in the hotel while deciding what to do. There’s an area with some old colonial buildings which is apparently quite nice and I’ve never been to despite a few visits to Guangzhou now, so I suggested either that or Joypolis. Because of the unpredictable weather, we went with Joypolis even though it was pretty far away (took about an hour in a taxi). We stopped of at the watch market area to nab a few knock-off Rolexes for my dad to flog to his mates, which has now become a pain-in-the-arse tradition whenever I go home.
This is the 3rd Joypolis park I’ve been to after Tokyo and Shanghai, and I can’t say I’m a fan of them. This one, at least, was totally dead, so we didn’t have to wait for anything. It’s part of a new shopping and entertainment complex. It was a Sunday, but it was empty. It could’ve been because China had made it a workday since the previous couple of days had been public holidays, coupled with the fact that it’s not really near much else. They’re building a train/metro line and station right next to it, so that will probably help.
The Joypolis entrance is fab. They had some offer on wristbands, so we ended up trying out a bunch of stuff. I don’t think I’ve seen a ropes course at one of these before. A lot of other stuff I have seen, including the vile Transformers ride/shooting game.
They had the “Wild” trio of simulator rides. I used to think they were great, but they’re very dated now. The motion bases are decent, but they definitely need to upgrade the screen/video quality.
There’s also a cred (why else would I have made this effort), a launched spinner from Jinma rides. It starts with a swing launch away from, and then up, the spike. There's another launch partway through into the final section of the ride. It was really good! Smooth, forceful, fun. I don’t know if they’re outsourcing their launch system, but it was very good. There’s a bit of a dead spot before the launch in the middle as the train comes to a complete stop first. Given the intensity of that section, it makes sense, but Jinma traditionally haven’t done well with transitions between different coaster sections (switch tracks etc.), so I don’t know if that’s part of it as well.
We enjoyed an early dinner at a traditional Chinese KFC before getting back in a taxi for another hour to get back into town for a train back to Hong Kong.
