June 2; Happy Half Birthday to the last of the sisters

Day 118

To celebrate Kristie's half birthday, we adventured off to Bajiao Amusement Park, which was pretty much a ripoff of Disney land. You pay a small entrance fee which grants you access to the whole park grounds and then you pay for each attraction. It's good if you're not planning on going on a lot of rides. If you do plan on being a ride warrior, it will get expensive.

Walking towards the entrance gate

moderately  busy

the gang =) 

The park is divided into themed regions. It's actually a pretty nice place to walk around for those who are not ride enthusiasts. Before we went on any rides, we decided to scan the grounds first and pick and choose the rides wisely. Aside from the rides, there were other things of interest in the park.

There were 2 arcades:

Tanjin toggling that thing

dancing machine

Heys and Mona shooting hoops

Tom shooting hoops

got a bit of an audience

Those are cartons of cigarettes.

At the second arcade, Sig tries out boxing

and shooting...

Heys vs. Tom

Heys vs. Mona

There were landmarks and photo opportunities scattered around:

Looking like she's ready for adventure

I told Sigrid to ask one of the dudes to take the picture for us, and coincidentally there were foreigners walking by who thought we were referring to them. They ended up taking the photo instead haha

The boys and the hammer.

it's never too late or too early for Christmas...apparently

Jaws?

I guess the park is a bit of a Universal ripoff as well

 The fees for the rides varied. A few of them were "discounted" or scalpers sold it for cheaper than advertised.

The American looking for an American Adventure

What's up with the fascination with America...

This roller coaster was 50 RMB.

There's a height restriction - you can be too tall and too short.  Poor Aunty Tom was too tall. 

Like Wonderland's drop zone

 We discovered quite a few of the rides were not in service which was a shame since some of them seemed like a lot of fun...

water ride out of service

looked like it was going to be fun

ferris wheel wasn't working either. 

For rock climbing, you pay per try. Once you fall, that's it. 15 RMB per try

aunty tom goes first

There were performers and mascots around the park too.

old guy stands on his hands

Donald Duck?
I dunno, the little girl seems pretty skeptical

not "mickey and minnie"

we found balloons for the birthday girl

"deep" water

We left the park to meet the rest of the gang for dinner. Haley, or the "food truth" as Tanjin calls her, recommended a French restaurant. She was the one to introduce us to Mr.Shi's dumpling so we all had complete faith in her.

le menu

goat's cheese and provencale vegetable quiche, roasted mushroom with a garlic cream and crust, and middle eastern salad - soooo good.

La Byzatine = 76 RMB

We also ordered a cheese platter. oh my gosh, I was dying. I never realized how much I missed cheese.

I think there was an apple in there...

At the end of the meal, they gave us a complimentary alcoholic drink that was supposed to help digest the food. I wasn't expecting much, but after most of us took a shot we reacted with gross faces. Never drinking that again.  annnnd, that shot was the last of the happy half birthdays.

Events like these are what will be missed.