Shenzhen's Window of the World (世界之窗)

As most of you know, I was in Shenzhen for this year's Chinese New Year. It has become sort of a tradition in my family that we would go somewhere for Chinese New Year holiday cuz we don't balik kampung on a contrary to most Chinese families. It's difficult to get tickets back to Sibu, anyway. We usually go overseas, such as Hong Kong (for 2005). If we ran out of ideas or there're no more flights, then Genting would be it *haha*.

This year, my dad was already in Shenzhen for several weeks already. And my parents knew how to navigate around Shenzhen. So, thought it would be a great idea that we flew up to join him there, although I really missed the 'lui yan kai' a.k.a. Ladies' Street in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. This whole long street was jam-packed with stalls with good stuff at cheap prices. Six days we were there last year, every single day we went shopping. Anyway...

Aren't the flowers pretty? Couldn't resist snapping a pic of it.

On Chor Yee (Jan 30), we went to the Window of the World (世界之窗, pronounced as shìjièzhīchuāng). Easy to go there, just take the subway all the way to the west terminal. The place was EXTREMELY crowded. People coming from all over Shenzhen and some here from outstation on holiday. Pure madness. Better not lose sight of your family/friend. All the more when you're in a foreign country. I mean, just look at the crowd. Siao eh.

And this was just the evening crowd.. morning crowd was double of this size.

Ya-lah, the whole of China population get one week holiday for Chinese New Year. What do you expect? If this park was empty, then something is wrong.

Anyway, 世界之窗 is a theme park where you can see miniatures of famous tourist attractions from all over the world. Egypt's pyramids, Holland's windmills, USA's Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, India's Taj Mahal, Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Paris' Eiffel Tower, etc. Sometimes, you may be able to catch the traditional dance performances - Thai, Indonesian and Malaysian - especially when there are lesser people (don't know if that's possible in a country with 1.3 billion population).

The Japanese Garden

You may even come across miniatures of medieval kingdoms. Too bad the buildings aren't lifesize. I would be interested in seeing how medieval houses and castles looked like. And it would be fascinating to learn the lifestyle. Aahhh. Don't know why but I'm very intrigued by medieval stuff, ancient Egyptian practices, ancient China, Roman and Greek empires.. They make very interesting subjects.

Only wished there were more of that in our school History books, instead of economics and Parameswara and his Pokok Melaka. Heehee.

A little European medieval kingdom. Can see Eiffel Tower sticking out up there?

Being myself who loves beautiful art and carvings (inherited this love from my mom), I was quickly pulled towards the walls and pillars with really cun engravings and carvings.

I can only appreciate the art, but man... I wouldn't be able to make a dime if I were to survive on selling my artwork. I wouldn't even call them art in the first place! :P

The Incredible Three in front of the pillars. What's with my brother..

These pillars would be one of the first things you would notice when you enter the theme park, besides the statues of five influential men in history. The one at the utmost left is the statue of Ramses II, the longest reigning Pharoah in the ancient Egypt. The fourth from left is supposedly of King David, the famous little boy shepherd who killed Goliath with just one stone and eventually became one of the greatest kings of Israel. The utmost right is, I think, the ancient Greek statue of Venus de Milo, depicting the goddess of love and beauty.

I'm not so sure of the other two.. maybe Genghis Khan and a Buddhist goddess? Just a wild guess. Can't really make them out. But they all have something in common. They are all, with the exception of the Genghis Khan lookalike, not decent.

Hei, hei, hei.. Hei, hei, hei.. Lima sekawan.

Now, I SOOOO wanna go to these countries and see the REAL thing. Ahh. Anyone wanna come join me? Then we can go find sponsors for our tickets around the world! Heheheh.

The Grand Canyon. Caught my mom by surprise.

This was our second time to this Theme Park. The first was back in 1997, the year Hong Kong was returned to China. There was one thing in common between these two visits to 世界之窗... We totally missed out Paris' Champs-Elysées, America's Niagara Falls and India's Taj Mahal. Again. Aiysehh.. sayang betul!

My sister with the Dutch windmill. All we're missing are a wooden bucket and two pigtails.

Didn't take as many photos as we liked cuz we were more busy trying to get away from the crowd and avoiding nudging people. Plus, we didn't dare take much in case the police (or were they security guards?) were not too happy about it. They can confiscate your camera, you know. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid, thinking up possibilities in my mind. But they look scary. Need to smile more. A lot more.

But don't get me wrong. China is a very beautiful country with tons of interesting historic facts, legends and elements that you would never get bored of exploring. I do love the winter in Shenzhen and Hong Kong... was easy settling to the weather there that when we landed in KLIA, my mom, Enoch and I were already feeling hot and sweaty.

End of Part Two of the Shenzhen Journal.