We arrived around 11:30am - only and hour after opening, things tend to open later here in China......
We've driven by once before when we went to the Sheshan Basilica in the area and noticed the lines were non-existent. Again this time when the cab dropped us off, from the street the lines were non-existent but as soon as we reached the ticket counter, masses everywhere! Thankfully it seemed a lot of people were just standing around so we were able to purchase our tickets in about 5 minutes -
$60 for the both of us.
First things first, lockers! We headed straight to the crowded locker room and were immediately hit with the smell urine and B.O. UH! There were either half dressed people (boys in the short shorts, let me tell you....) or people in bathing suits wearing a poncho or rain jacket over. I mean seriously? You are at a waterpark! I think it was more for 'sun protection' because the Chinese hate the sun but still.....
We couldn't figure out how to get a locker - no one spoke English. Finally found a guy who pointed us to a counter to rent one for the day. The locker system was actually pretty neat as they gave you a watch to wear with you locker number and when you held the watch up to the central control station, your locker opened - no keys or codes!
Our locker was upstairs and boy did we get all kinds of stares! Two white folk in a locker room wearing normal bathing suits, I tell ya, strange!
We headed out to explore the park and I immediately began to notice wear and tear - chipped concrete, failing paint, paint spilled on the ground - not a good sign for only being opening ONE month! And the brilliant idea of whomever to have polished concrete at a water park should be shot! Matts were laid down for people to walk on so they wouldn't slip and fall but in the middle of the matts were garden hoses with holes punched in them to act as sprinklers! People were tripping all over the place!
We found our first ride to try and all the people! The line was HUGE! We waited in the line for 10 minutes (as I began griping about the quality of the place - the railings had loose concrete footings, come on!) without taking one step forward before deciding to leave and find another. As we rounded a bend we saw a fun looking ride and people were running down the queue line as no one was there - awesome! The lifeguard made us leave our flip flops, which we were not happy about, and headed down the line. As we rounded another corner, we were greeted with another HUGE line! I did not want to wait but agreed to wait with B for one ride. Remember, people here give you no personal space so the line was crowded, smelled of B.O., the concrete path was muddy due to unfinished landscaping next to the line, everyone was staring at us and pointing as us, hair and q-tips were on the ground (GROSS!!!), and they were only allowing 8 people up the stairs at a time for the ride! The line we were in also joined another queue line for another ride - more people, more B.O. And we realized that between the two rides, there were only maybe 6 rafts. So, not only tons of people but minimal ride rafts - my patience was non-existent! I was ready to LEAVE and we were both grossed out. When we did finally make it to the top of the ride (and hour and 10 minutes later) the ride was fun - but only 40seconds. Not worth the line!
We walked around to the lazy river and took a spin - it was fine but crowded. Lots of people learning how to swim which was a bit bizarre. Everyone was wearing life vests except a select few - not a requirement, I just don't think they know how to swim. Adults were wearing children sized life vests that clearly stated on them something to the effect of 'will not save adult life' but they didn't care. I believe they didn't care because only the life vests at the park were free - everything else like intertubes you had to rent. The stares continued in the river, one kid yelled at us "Meiguoren!" which means American. Not sure if it was in a derogitory way but I was over all the stares by this point.
We looked for lunch next. There was one 'restaurant' and a few food stations. The 'restaurant' was still just a food station - like a McDonald's counter where you order then take away to sit somewhere. It was beyond packed so we walked further into the park at the children's area where they had a food counter. Ordered 2 chicken sandwiches, fries, and sodas - not great but we needed the food.
Next was the wave pool. Supposedly, this pool has the world's largest waves at 3.5meters! That's roughly 10ft! Sounds fun! We entered and not one wave occurred the entire time we were there.....really??! We both finally hit our breaking moment when the water was murky (disinfected water every 4 hours my foot) and pieces of blue paint floated by us - coating failures! We got out, dried off and enough was enough, headed back to the lockers!
We wanted to get out of our wet suits for the hour metro ride back so each headed to the bathrooms to change. Let's just say that when I walked in the ladies room, lots and lots of nakedness - naked women everywhere! Naked women with lots of bush! It was gross! There is NO, NONE, ZERO modesty in China! The showers outnumbered the toilets - about 30 showers to 15 toilets which were holes in the ground, no western toilets here and no toilet paper! The showers only had 3 walls, no doors, and were all glass - no thanks. I went to the very last toilet (thinking maybe it had been used the least) and stood in a corner away from the hole to change. Yuck.
We had to stand in a really long line to return our locker key for the deposit we gave then found a taxi to head back to the ditiezhan (metro station). An hour ride back and we scrubbed, scrubbed, and disinfected our bodies in the shower like never before! I even let us use my fancy antibacterial soap from the states to clean! It was that bad.
Later we headed out to our favorite neighborhood, the former French Concession, for Moscow Mules (or Hollywood Scarlet from our wedding). B had read an article in a magazine about good places to try for happy hours. The first, Magpie, was excellent! Great mule but no food :( But did serve the mule in awesome propaganda mugs:
Next, in search of food, we made our was to The Chalet around the corner. Again tried the mules there, not as good as Magpie but there was excellent food! I had the PMS sandwich which was pesto, mozerella, and salami. B had a roast pork and swiss sandwich, all very very yummy!
I can say that we will never be back to that water park, or potentially any water park in China, and that between my fancy antibacterial soap and the alcohol we drank, we were disinfected both inside and outside! Oh China.....
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