After rising up early and enjoying the fine buffet breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express, Shenzhen-style, we began our splendid day. The entire group spent the morning shopping and sightseeing at the Dong Men Pedestrian Street, and building up an appetite for a spicy Sichuan lunch. Off we went to the government-run “mineral museum”…a new code word for a timeshare opportunity where we learned about the qualities and various Jade products and quite a few people bought “certified” Jade pieces. As the afternoon continued, we visited a Splendid WalMart store and spent the rest of the evening at the Splendid China and Chinese Folk Culture Village for a variety of cultural shows and dinner.
Splendid China efficiently shrunk all of China’s cultural treasures into one amazing theme park! One highlight is the Horse Battle Performance including warring tribes battling for control of a castle, and men performing horse acrobatics. Meanwhile another warrior took a keen interest in our group while he was supposed to be conquering the Mongolians. While the rain was falling, and horses were jumping over flaming ropes, a sinister laugh was heard over the loudspeaker and it was clear that we weren’t in the USA anymore. We enjoyed two more splendid shows, including elaborate costumes and lovely performers representing the various Chinese cultures.
I want to pause and give a special shout out to Sharon Gue and Lynda Haessler whose birthdays we celebrated at dinner today! We are thankful that they chose to spend it here with us, and so were the Indonesian and Indian families sitting near us at dinner who joined in singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them. It was a splendid day, and we are looking forward to moving on to Hong Kong tomorrow.
Study Tour
