After having the most wonderful Peking Duck lunch at the “Bai Wei Xiang Chun - Long Tang Kao Ya Dian” (”Hundred Flavours Village - Dragon Palace Peking Duck Restaurant”), we were back in Sifu’s car. Sifu first drove our 2 tourmates Auntie & Uncle & our tour guide Wang Jing back to Yanxiu Market cos Auntie wanted to shop for more fake Designer Bags - told you Auntie loved fake Designer Bags so much!!

Well, I always enjoy watching the local streets & people whenever I am travelling on the roads, & would often try to take their photos as well. On our way to Yaxiu Market, I couldn’t help but took some photos of the Beijing’s Marriott Hotel etc, & once again the Beijing’s “Twisted Donut” or “The Pants” - the terrifying cool L-shaped Building of the new-to-be China Central Televsion Heaquater when we travelled through Beijing’s Central Business District (Chaoyang District)! This time Dear had a more closer clearer look at it (just after his short nap in the car) & he too was really impressed by it!!

After Sifu dropped Wang Jing & Auntie & Uncle off at Yaxiu Market, he drove us to Dear’s most looked-forward-to place in Beijing - the Happy Valley Theme Park!! YES, Dear just loves Theme Parks cos he loves the thrill & excitement on riding on the Roller Coasters!!

The weather was still as gloomy as this morning…….& Dear & I prayed hard hard that it would not rain!! It was a pretty long ride to the Happy Valley, & being full & tired from our marvelicous Peking Duck lunch, & busy morning of visiting the Temple of Heaven, plus lots of shopping at the Olympics Store & Yanxiu Market, & Sifu’s car being so comfortable & nice, Dear & I took a nap all the way till we arrived at the Happy Valley - already seeing its stunning Themed Structures from afar, making ourselves so so excited & eager to step right into it!

Now, watch the following Slideshow for the photos taken from inside Sifu’s car from a distance from Happy Valley :

It was drizzling slightly when we walked from Sifu’s car to the Happy Valley, located in the Southeast of Beijing City. Happy Valley is the newest, biggest, & best Theme Park of Beijing - the 2nd in China to carry the “Happy Valley” name - the 1st being in Southern City of Shenzhen.

We’re now standing at the Theme Park’s huge Entrance - where its letters-word “HAPPY VALLEY” stands.

Heehee, the place looked desserted - how cool which meant Dear didn’t have to queue for Rides!! Haha you know why I only mentioned Dear queuing for Rides?!! Well, cos I intended not to ride any during this visit cos I remember how bad I got from my last Korean Everland Roller Coaster ride, which got me real sick from dizziness all the way from when I stepped down from the Ride, to having my Prawn Burger lunch (my 1st & best seafood Burger ever!!), then on to our tour coach, then winding up a Ski Mountain, till all the way to the Restuarant when we stopped for dinner!!

It was the very first time that I’d felt so giddy when travelling on the roads overseas cos I’ve never had such problem throughout all my trips abroad! Yes yes, I do have some seasick problem but it’s pretty okie (as I’ve experienced the worst sea motions during my Italty Capri Island Cruise during Dear & my Honeymoon, where almost 3 quarters of the ship’s passengers vommited - but I was pretty ok except for slight giddiness!!).

Anyway, throughout the Korean coach ride, my head was just spinning round & round, & I was feeling so so so giddy!! Worst still, when I finally sat down before my Korean Steamboat dinner in the Restaurant, I just couldn’t eat anything but did only one thing - guess what!?!? Haha bet you must have guessed wrongly!! I did not puke at all as you must have guessed - wished I could, so that I might feel better!!

But instead guess what - I CRIED!!! Yes, I cried okie right infront of all my other tourmates!!! Yea yea, I should have felt embarrassed for crying infront of so many tourmates, strangers & Koreans, but then during that time I felt no embarrassment at all cos I just had to cry out to make myself feel better!!

Hahah, then I remember our Malaysian hubby tourmate (travelling with his wife) was so sweet he immediately went to take a glass of warm water for me to cool off, whereas my Dear Dear just sat opposite me staring sadly & helplessly at me!! Hahahaha cos my Dear Dear was just too shocked & surprised at my ’so giddy’ problem that he was practically tongue & action-tight!!

So you see, how could I still dare take any more Roller Coaster rides!? Well, actually I was not always like that cos I used to take many rides from the Gold Coast Movie World & Dream World etc & those I really enjoyed & had fun!! Well, guess I’m not getting any younger now like before……….besides, I also have pretty serious height phobia………..so let’s just say forget about Roller Coaster rides for the time being hahah!!

Okie, enough said about my fear of Roller Coaster rides……let’s move on to my Beijing’s Happy Valley story……

Well, Sifu left us to purchase our Happy Valley Tickets (with unlimited rides), & while waiting for him, Dear & I explored the nearby tiny cutie Souvenirs Store.

Soon, both Dear & I, like little kids, ran to the front Entry Gate & made our way inside the Happy Valley. Heehee, the light rain has also stopped - just in time for us!

Upon entering the Theme Park, Dear & I picked up the Happy Valley Map & looked at its Happy Valley Park Map for the direction of Altantis - a themed Kingdom which was directly located in the Centre of the Park with the other themed areas (Wild Fjord, Aegean Habor, Lost Maya, Shangri-La & Ant Kingdom) surrounding it.

From where we were standing at the main entrance of the Theme Park where the Wild Fjord Kingdom was (even while we were seated in Sifu’s car approaching the Theme Park), we could already see the Atlantis’s 60-metre Holy Crystal Castle - the Landmark of Happy Valley, the commanding height of the entire Theme Park. This Holy Crystal Castle is home to Crystal Wing - the Roller Coaster which Dear had been looking forward to ride as he’d already seen it on the Internet before we came to Beijing.

Crystal Wing is the only Asian Flyer-coaster, & China’s largest invested Amusement facility. Currently, there’re only 5 such Roller Coasters in the World, & this Chinese Coaster won the European & American Track Amusement Championship for 2 sonsecutive years of 2003 & 2004.

According to Dear, Crystal Wing is similar to the Lethal Weapon (which we’d riden on together during our dating in 1998) in Gold Coast, Australia.

Dear had wanted so much to take the Crystal Wing ride but to his utter disappointment, there was so long a queue - Mostly Chinese & some Caucasians - but mostly they were teenages & young adults & most of them were in pairs!! We were so surprised cos upon arriving at the Happy Valley’s main entrance earlier, we’d thought there were not many people inside the Theme Park cos the whole place looked so empty!!

And Dear & I were still so happy & excited telling each other heehee we came at the right time!! Haha we were so wrong!! Dear was really so disappointed but judging from the 2 & half hr deadline given by Sifu, we knew there was no way Dear had enough time to queue for the ride, cos the queue was far too long!! And guess Dear wouldn’t have the patience to queue that long too!!

So disappointedly as you could see on Dear’s expression, he could only take photos of himself with the Holy Crystal Castle where the Crystal Wing was, & stared & watched sadly at the rides going on up there without himself - at those moments I really felt sad for him too :(( But no choice as he kept saying cos the quere was far too long!!

Now, I’ve put in the following Slideshow all the photos which I took from upon entering Happy Valley, to walking to the beautiful ancient looking Atlantis Kingdom where the Crystal Wing Roller Coaster was located, & along the way we also saw glimpses of the Atlantis’s Roman Colosseum design structure which made Dear & I so excited cos we remembered the time we were at the real Colosseuum during our Europe Honeymoon!!!

Energy Collector is the highest Flight Island & the largest Browser with the transparent crystal Sightseeing Platform at its Cantilevered end, flying to a 60-metre high sky at a 360 degrees turn. Oh MY GOODNESS the sight of this cantilevered end just made my heart sink!! I just couldn’t imagine myself that high up in the Sightseeing Platform cos I would be so scared that the end would give way cos of the so many people up there including myself who’s so fat & heavy haha!! 

The thoughts of this & that & having fears of it dropping just kept filling up my mind as I saw it moving & down & spining around!! Yet Dear just said to me “See, my dear dear, that’s not scared one cos it’s just moving slowly around, not like Roller Coaster!!” Haha ”NOPE  NOPE I’ll not take that ride either!!” I screamed to Dear & he said “Aiya, my dear dear this also scared!!” - Haha now think about it I’m also laughing right now!! See how timid I just am!!!

But guess what, in the end I still gave in to Dear cos I felt sorry for him to be riding alone while I had to watch him “fly” from far below…….so I decided to go ride Energy Collector with him!

And I had no regrets taking the flight, though I was really scared when up there with him & many other Chinese (mostly teenagers!! - hahah think Dear & myself were the only 2 old ones up there!!). The views from up there were stunning & breathtaking - yea sure cos I was so sacred cos I kept thinking of those bad thoughts I had ever since I saw it from the grounds……& I didn’t even dare to stand near the end of the Sightseeing Platform or lean against it & had to also make sure that Dear’s grip was on my hand all the time, or that I was grasping onto his arm throughout the flight!

And once, this really nice young Chinese teenage girl who was just standing beside me (with her group of girlfriends) comforted me in Mandarin saying “Don be scared, not scared” heehee again I was really touched by her….

Well, the views from up there were really spectacular cos we saw - well in my midst of fear I still managed to see very clearly the beautiful views of the Atlantis world, the Lost Maya world, the waters of Aegean Harbor & its world, & far beyond the Happy Valley Theme Park into the Beijing city! Except that in the midst of my fear, I forgot to take photos of Dear & myself together with the gorgeous views as the backdrop, cos I practically just stood still on one spot throughout the whole flight!! And I even screamed when the Sightseeing Platform suddenly jerked during descending - but heehee many others also screamed like me so not so bad ha heehee!!

See below the Slideshow containing the photos which I took from below the grounds before we climbed some 2 or 3 storeys of steps up the Energy Collector building to enter its Sightseeing Platform to take its flight, to the views of the surrounding which we saw from our flight 60 metres high up in the sky! 

Now, see below my face expression after we got down on the grounds from the Energy Collector ride - I really looked in fright ha - told you I was really scared!!

Now, after calming down for a while for photography sake heehee - I looked much better with a smile now ha heehee!

We next moved on to the Lost Maya. And lying in the inner Park Lake, we saw the Titan Truck (or Apollo Wheel) - the largest Asian Pendulum, & one of the 5 latest amusements stated in the 2004 American “Entertainment” magazine!

The 120-ton Monster Titan Truck ride was even more frightening!!! With a gear driving it to rotate, & six high-power asychronous motors turned on at the same time to create a 4.3 G acceleration, the Titan Truck rotated from left to right at very fast speed till very high up (almost reaching 180 degrees!!) to a 15-storey high up in the sky!!

Dear & I just stood nearby & watched it in horror swinging swiftly left & right left & right with all the screaming people seated inside the wheel - this was really one CRAZY ride in the world!!!

I’ve put the photos taken of the swinging Titan Truck in the following Slideshow :

Still in the Lost Maya Kingdom, Dear & I explored the area with excitement, & I really enjoyed looking at the many beautiful wooden Mayan figures standing on the grounds everywhere. And to my much delights, I found a Arts & Crafts Souvenir Store where I bought the following pair of handcrafted handpainted wooden Chinese Folk Dolls with the their handpainted red clothings having the Chinese character “Fu” meaning “Good Fortune” - aren’t they so adorable?!!

 Below is the Slideshow containing photos I took while Dear & I were exploring Lost Maya. 

While exploring Lost Maya, we came upon a handsome Mayan Warrior looking around fanatically for a way out of the his lost Kingdom……so I quickly grabbed him & made him take a photo with me - but not without a condition from him that I had to help him find his way out haha!!

Heehee I was only just joking…..Well, Dear & I soon made our way into the Aegean Harbor where the famous gigantic wooden Trojan Horse stands. With seats built hidden inside the Horse’s tummy, the seated people would be shaken, upgraded, swung, fallen, stopped & rolled by the Horse in the air!

Then a short distance from the Trojan Horse  was the Odyssey Trip Boat Ride was situated. Set in a beautiful Greek civilisation structure, the Boat filled with people would rush down from 10 & 26 metres in height, & at an instantly upgrade of a speed of 74km per hour - that’s the maximum hoisting height of double upgrading-torrent in Asia!

The fast rushing down of the Boat into the bottom would make the water splash out loudly all over, high & far away, even on the people watching the ride from the nearby pavement - these people would all be drenched wet by the huge splashing water!! Initially when Dear & I first saw the water splashing we were laughing aloud!! It was all so cool!! Luckily we knew quick enough to stand further away from the huge splash cos we saw the nearby pavement all wet with water!! And beautifully, we also saw rainbows reflected by the water curtain during the water splashing - too bad I didn’t manage to catch them in my camera!!

Well, Dear was in no better luck again cos there was also a long quere for the Odyssey Trip ride!! But by watching the ride went on a few times, with the splashing waters & all the people getting wet, was good enough fun for him to soon forget about his disappointment.

The following is a Slideshow of the photos taken of the wooden Trojan Horse & Odyssey Trip in Aegean Harbor.

From the Aegean Harbor, I bought the following romantic wooden Boat Wind Charm from one of the Souvenirs stores as I’ve always liked Wind Charms…..my kitchen right now has a few hanging - I’ll show you one day if I’ve got the chance heehee!

Dear & I continued walking through Aegean Harbor towards Wild Fjord Kingdom & along the way, we visited a Magic Store cos Dear likes magic alot - he’s loved it since he was a very young kid!! Dear has collected many Magic Stuffs as well & he’s also got a few Magic Books! Best of all, he’s got some pretty funny magic tricks to his sleeves & he used to make me laugh & had me watch in awe how he did all those clever tricks - so funny!!

Upon entering Wild Fjord Kingdom, we passed by the Happy Square where we saw some public teenagers skateboarding - it was really cool!!

We then came upon the OCT Great Theatre, which is one of the largest theatres in Beijing & can accommodate more than 1500 people. The “Golden Mask Dynasty” is played daily in this OCT Great Theatre.

Below Slideshow contains photos taken while walking from Aegean Harbor to Wild Fjord Kingdom as described above.

We soon made our way to Ant Kingdom where everything in there was so cute! It’s a little like a Kid’s World, with a mini Roller Coaster too (but Dear was not keen on this Kiddie one!!), but to Dear & I who are just like kids, we both found Ant Kingdom pretty cool & interesting!

And it was during this time that it started to rain quite heavily for a while, & as we’d left our umbrella in Sifu’s car, Dear bought a Pink umbrella (cos he knows I like Pink!) with the Happy Valley Logo, from one of the Souvenirs Store inside Ant Kingdom. And I also got myself the following Ants Key Ring - so sweet & so cute!!

Walking further into the Ant Kingdom, Dear & I especially liked the Ant Nests where there were large Ants figurines busy working &  crossing a Bridge on top of their Nests, or carrying food in their Nests, or playing or eating -  everything was just so adorable! And cos of the rain, we even saw one or 2 teenage Chinese couples cuddled together, hiding inside the Nests! 

 Well, actually we did see many young Chinese couples in the Theme Park that day! Most  of them were teenagers & they’d all gone there dating, either in couples or in groups! And so  strangely & funnily, Dear & I also felt like we were dating in there cos the atmosphere in there among  the various themed Kingdoms, being ancient, authentic & beautiful, really made us feel very romantic  as we strolled leisurely in the Park! Dear was equally very happy too though he’d missed all his rides! Guess we really felt great being left alone & venturing on our own for 2 whole & half hours!!

 Now, the following Slideshow contains photos I took while strolling in the Ant Kingdom.