Geo Travel Stories

Kingdom of Discovery rides

George — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:39:55 +0000

The biggest adrenaline rush you can get in Kingdom of Discovery Theme Park is by taking a ride in the Montagne Russe. It is pretty big, it’s very fast(maybe too fast) and it’s way bumpy and rigid … After that ride you will feel just like a shaken bottle of Pepsi. If you’re into it, you must try it at least one time.

But there are other few alternatives to getting a big adrenaline rush in Kingdom of Discovery, alternatives that, at first, don’t seem to be a big deal. One of them is this next ordinary ride, that sometimes doesn’t work properly:

It’s probably best to avoid it.

Another interesting ride in the park is the water ride:

But the ride itself is nothing compared to the experience of getting splashed in the face when the boat reaches the end of the slide. In front of the water slide starts the queue for this ride and there’s a glass wall and the water splashes the glass. But if you want, you can easily go in front of the glass and stand right in front of the splash.

Even though it does not seem dangerous, that splash is very powerful, the second time we did this(the second video), one of the guys was actually thrown in the glass wall behind and hit his head.

Here you can see my entire Kingdom of Discovery Gallery

Kingdom of Discovery Photo Gallery

George — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:53:02 +0000

With this gallery I tried to capture every interesting moment that Kingdom of Discovery(Dalian – China) can offer.

Kingdom of Discovery Tickets

Kingdom of Discovery Map

The Night Show

End of The Night Show

Kingdom of Discovery at night

Kingdom of Discovery Parade

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Kingdom of Discovery Parade

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Kingdom of Discovery Parade

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The Stunt Show

The stunt Show

Water ride in the park

Kingdom of Discovery Lake Castle

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Kingdom of Discovery at night

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The Castle Zone

Inside the park

Live Band

Romeo and Juliet Show

Kingdom of Discovery

George — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:47:03 +0000

In the month I stayed in Dalian, China, I actually lived in Kingdom of Discovery. I had my own room in one of the villas for the employees, inside the park. Even though I was in the park almost every day, I never seen or paid for a ticket. I remember the guys there saying the price was around 120RMB(12Euros). But today I came across the blog of a guy that visited Kingdom of Discovery in 2006. He has some nice pics there, including one with the tickets:

I hope he doesn’t mind me borrowing this pic…:d. By the way, at that time, the price for a ticket was 160RMB, so it can’t be 120RMB now. You can check out his Kingdom of Discovery experience here.

Kingdom of Discovery Park lays on a 470.000 square meters property and it’s made up of six theme blocks. This is how a map looks like:

Besides all the rides and fun stuff that is available in the park all day long( and included in the price), there are a few special shows(also included in the price) like:

The first show starts at 10.30a.m. It is called the “Water Stage Show”. A few girls, a few costumes and a few good dances.

Next is The stunt show. The show runs four times a day, everyday(except Tuesdays), the first one starts at 11.00a.m. and the last one at 04.00pm. It’s a parody, very funny. The show has a lot of great stunts: car stunts, motorcycle stunts, high jumps, explosions and fire stunts.

At 14.00 starts the Kingdom of Discovery Parade.

Around 16.00 there’s a special show. During the time I was there, in July, they made the “Water show”. Something similar to the Parade, but with a lot of water … The girls in the show are dressed as mermaids, have water guns and are shooting at people. You can buy a water gun and start shooting back. At one point, everybody is watering everybody. This is the reason I have no pictures with this show. So keep your gadgets safe.

At night, there are two shows. Five nights a week there’s the Night Show. It has clowns, Shaolin priests demonstration, nice dances(traditional dances, break dance, pop dances) and many more. The song in the end of this show is great … Irene Cara – Fame. I love it.

Of course, the show ends with fireworks. And a special moment, due to the Olympic Games that were about to start in Beijing:

The other show is called “Romeo and Juliet”. This show runs in the Castle, only 2days a week(on weekends, when is more crowded). This is the best Kingdom of Discovery dance show. There’s lots of dances and entertaining moments.

In the end of this show there’s a little disco moment … the band starts singing and everybody comes on the stage and starts dancing.

Besides all this, Kingdom of Discovery has a live band that sings 4-5times a day(in the Castle Zone).

There is also a real church in the park and some people go there to get married.

Last year(2007), my cousin was a choreographer in the park, she made most of the dances in all the shows. I am proud of her.

So, if you get to Dalian anytime soon, don’t hesitate to visit Kingdom of Discovery. You’ll have a full day of fun!

Check out the full Kingdom of Discovery Photo Gallery

Kingdom of Discovery – The Stunt Show Photo Gallery

George — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:28:14 +0000

Here are a few interesting moments of The Stunt Show caught on camera.

The entrance to the stunt show

A bad guy dressed up as a ninja

Motorcycle stunts

The bad guys

Motorcycle stunt

Motorcycle stunts

The decoy

The police on motorcycles

The decoy and the beautiful girl

The bad guys and the cops are shooting at each other

Car crash

A police officer and a ninja fighting on the roof.

After the stunt show

The beautiful girl is held hostage

The helicopter blows up

One of the bad guys on fire

The end of the stunt show.

Great photo of the cast.

Kingdom of Discovery – The Stunt Show

George — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:58:39 +0000

One of the main attractions in Kingdom of Discovery park is the Stunt Show.

It is called “The Great Diamond Heist”.

The show runs four times a day, everyday(except Tuesdays), the first one starts at 11.00a.m. and the last one at 4.30pm. (I hope I remember the hours right).

It’s a parody, very funny. The show has a lot of great stunts: car stunts, motorcycle stunts, high jumps, explosions and fire stunts. The cast is made up of people coming from all around the world: Ukraine, Germany, Romania(my cousin), The United States and Australia.

I think I saw this show about 30 – 40 times in the month I stayed there. My cousin played a part in the show and I used to go to the set almost every day, before the last show. I never got bored of it.

All great guys. I had the pleasure to meet them personally.

If you ever get to Dalian and you want to visit Kingdom of Discovery, don’t miss the stunt show(so, avoid going Tuesdays).

What can you expect in China

George — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:31:42 +0000

In the month I spent in China, I saw a lot of stuff that I think is worth mentioning here. Stuff that surprised me, amused me, disgusted me, scared me or impressed me.

As I said in my previous post, I stayed near Dalian(in the theme park Kingdom of Discovery, 40min by train from Dalian), so I frequented only semi-touristic and non-touristic areas(and here I mean you would see few foreign tourists). Dalian is located in Northeast China, in the Liaoning Province and it has a population of 6.2 million.

Here’s all the stuff about China(that region of China) that needs to be said…

First thing that really surprised me was that Chinese people are absolutely crazy about white people. This is the main reason that 90% of the Kingdom of Discovery’s employees(the entertainers, not maintenance personnel) are white – to attract Chinese people. And it works perfectly. I heard from a manager there that the park must have at least 6.000 visitors a day to make profit.

I personally was asked lots of times by Chinese to take a picture with them … The usual formula you will hear is “Can I make a take a picture with you?”. Very very funny )). This can happen anywhere … on the beach, on the street, in a restaurant. And you make them so happy if you accept … you start feeling like a star.

Second thing is the road infrastructure. I was really impressed. Even the smallest cities are linked by highways… Good roads, but the driving is absolutely crazy …. At one point we took a cab between two cities and that guy some how thought that we were in a hurry … We thought we were going to die. There is no driving conduit … everyone is driving with any speed on any lane … on the highway … There are no rules. It’s really scary.

Third thing: they have motorcycles as taxis. This is probably the most scary stuff I saw. 20years old motorcycles, most of them with no lights or any signaling, and nobody is wearing a helmet. And you can see them on the highway, day or night. Many of the friends I made there, that were working in the park, had at least one motorcycle accident. The motorcycle taxi fare is half compared to a car taxi and they can carry up to 3people with luggage besides the driver, so they are popular. For a car taxi, the price is 4Yuans per kilometer. The minimum cab fare is 12Yuans(you are charged 12for the first 3km at start, and after that, with 4Yuans/km).

Fourth thing is the fact that Chinese are not so good with English. But they don’t realize that. They have a lot of written signs and welcome messages also translated into English. One of the funniest translation I saw was at the entrance of Kingdom of Discovery. There is big sign there that says: “WELCOME TO HERE”. And they have many many more of these funny translations.

Fifth thing is that they have Starbucks. I had my first Starbucks coffee in China, in QuaiFaChu, a non-touristic city(small city close to Dalian – I don’t know to spell it, I just sounded it out.). I payed for a coffee 37Yuans, that’s 3.7Euros. This is more than the minimum salary for a day’s work in China(normal people make 2-3Euros a day).

Sixth thing are the malls. There are malls just everywhere. In Dalian, all the center of the city has a big mall underneath, like 3-4 floors in the ground, that connects to all the malls in the area, that have 7-8 floors. You need more than a week to go to every mall. There are 3-4types of malls/stores: First are the malls with the original big brands, that have higher prices than Europe. Second are the malls with smaller brands, that have more accessible prices. Third are the malls/stores with fake brands, that have written “No bargaining” … These are the malls that usually have good and very good prices for stuff. And last, there are the malls that have no prices listed and you have to ask the seller for the price. These are the “bargaining malls”. Read more about shopping in Dalian.

Seventh thing is that Chinese people are scared of water. I think about 99% of them can’t swim. They all enter only 2-3meeters in the sea and also wear a swim belt.

Shopping in Dalian

George — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:51:46 +0000

You will find 3-4type of malls and stores(boutiques) in Dalian(And maybe in all China):

First are the malls for the snobs, with original big brands, that have higher prices than Europe. There, everything is very expensive.

Second are the stores with good clothes, that do not belong to a known brand. These stores have more accessible prices.

Third are the malls/stores with fake brands, that have written at the entry “No bargaining“ and have prices displayed for every item … These are the malls that usually have good and very good prices for stuff.

And last, there are the “bargaining malls“. Most of these malls have no prices displayed and you have to ask the seller for the price. These kinds of malls have savage employees. You don’t even need to glance at someones boutique and the seller will run after you with all kind of stuff in his hands, telling you again and again “very gooda, very gooda”. You will constantly have 5-10 sellers in your face that will try to convince you to buy from their store. Very loud and very impolite. First time I entered in this type of mall I was more than confused … I didn’t know what to do, how to react … good thing that I was with my cousin. She was used to this and told me what to do: display a mean face and start cursing them:))) … very efficient method to keep them away. She also thought me how to bargain here.

Important rule: Never ever ever pay the amount of money the seller is asking, especially if you are white(be certain that they will try to take as much money as they can from you). My advice is to ask somebody that knows how “things work” to come with you on your first shopping spree. Perfect would be to go with a Chinese person that you can trust. You will surely not be ripped off.

These sellers usually are asking three times more than the actual price. Here is the bargaining/buying procedure:

1. You see something you like;

2. You ask for the price;

3. The seller is typing his price on a calculator and shows; Only 1% of the sellers I met knew English.

4. Here two things can happen: The wrong thing – You can pay the amount the seller is asking, take your stuff and go on. Or you can do the right thing - Make a very surprised face like it is way to expensive and try and turn to go away from his shop;

5. In 99% cases the seller will do anything to stop you and will hand you the calculator to input the price you would pay for the item. Always, always keep in mind that the product you want to buy, can be found in many other places.

6. Input a price that is around 3 times smaller that his original price.

7. The seller will first act totally surprised and will try to tell you that it’s no way you will get the item for that price. And will take the calculator from you and will input a price that is just a little smaller that the original price.

8. Here there are three ways of dealing with this … one is to input another price(but not more than half of the original price), second is to turn around and leave. Third way is the bad way – to pay what the seller is asking;

9. If you input another price, step 7 and 8 will repeat. If you turn around an leave two things can happen. One is when the seller is happy with the price you are willing to pay and realizes that he can’t get more from you. And says Ok! Ok! – you got the item for your last price offer. Second is when the seller isn’t happy with your price and let’s you go.

10. If he lets you go, be sure that he is mad now and will not sell you the item with less than what he initially asked, even if first he was willing to sell you for less at start. So you need to go to another store and repeat these steps, but be sure to raise a little the price you offered the first seller – you are now sure that the item you want to buy costs more that the price you were trying to get.

From my bargaining experience in Dalian, I can say that about 50% of all the things I wanted to buy/bought, I got/could of gotten them for three times less that the initial price. About 45% of them I got for a price between 1/3 and half the initial price. And the rest with a pretty big cut of the price. So when you agree to pay more than half the initial price, you will almost certainly be riped off.

Let me give you some examples of things that I bought and the prices I payed.

First thing I bought was a fake Rolex, you can find Rolex watches anywhere. I payed 80Yuani for it. The guy initially asked for 200Yuani. I knew that all the watches were fakes, but anyways … it was cool to have one. They have an efficient method to make you think there are valuable watches: They have some normal watches on sale, and when they see a foreigner checking out their store, they bring out a shiny suitcase, with big brand watches, like Rolex, Mont Blank, Philip Patek, Bvlgari and other. Most of them, very good replicas. They will ask for 400-600Yuani(40-60Euros) depending on the watch and your attitude. But none of them cost more than 100Yuani. There are only few watches that are amazing replicas and can get to 200 or even 250Yuani, but you will find those only in some malls, in some private rooms in the back(destined for foreigners), full with well made fakes(thousands of dvds, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton bags, Armani stuff, Rolex watches, etc.). But you must know somebody to have access there.

I bought a charger for my camera. Funny story … He first asked for 30Yuani, I said 10, he said 25 and I got it for 15. I was happy about myself for that bargaining. 15Yuani is 1.5Euros … pretty cheap for a charger, right? But, the next day, in other store, I saw the same charger at 6Yuani. I felt a little stupid.

You can buy 4-5 pairs of socks with 10Yuani.

You can buy nice boxers(Armani, Versace, D&G) with 15Yuani.

You can buy cool sun glasses with 30-40-50Yuani(Dior, D&G, Prada).

You can buy nice T-shirts or shorts(Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc..) for max 50Yuans(5Euros) and all kind of shoes for 100-120Yuans.

The day before I left, I bought a medium/big troller for all the stuff I bought there(I went to China only with a small backpack ). I payed 100Yuans for it, after a pretty big bargaining. The initial price was 350Yuans. Good deal.

If you happen to go to Dalian, or anywhere else in China, I hope this article will be of some help to you. Happy shopping!

How I got to China

George — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:49:03 +0000

This year, in July, with the help of one of my cousins, I managed go to China. I can’t say I visited China, because I’ve been in only one big city, Dalian(population of 6mil), but it was one of the greatest travel experiences I had till now.

She(my cousin) was working(in a stunt show) in a big theme park near Dalian, Kingdom of Discovery. At some point, knowing that I like to travel, she told me(half serious, half joking) that I should go there, because it was lots of fun, it was very cheap, I would meet cool people from USA and Australia(from her team) and a lot of beautiful girls from the park parade and the dance shows(most of them from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus). And everybody was partying almost every night.

So, I started telling all of my friends that I will go to China. Most of them did not believe me and even made fun of me(Stuff like “Yeah, right”, “Sure sure, and I am flying to the moon”, etc. ). Their reaction filled me with ambition(I’m kind of stubborn) and I started thinking very serious about going. My cousin assured me that I could live with them in the park’s complex villas(for employees) and even eat at the park cafeteria. I just needed money for the plane and personal expenses. So I made some massive economies, I got my vista from the Chinese Embassy…

…And on the first of July, I left for China. It was a very long trip(20hours), I had to changed three planes to get to Dalian. I also had the opportunity to visit Amsterdam(I spent 7 hours there – it’s more than enough time to see all the important attractions – but not enough to taste or touch – more like a tease … ).

This hole trip cost me 1200Euro. 800Euro was the plane ticket and 400Euros I spent there. I left with a backpack and I came home with a full luggage.

Great experiece, great experience! I met a lot of new people and made a lot of friends all over the world. I came in close contact with a completly new culture. The fact that I spent most of my time there in semi-touristic and non-touristic areas made me witness a lot of interesting things, things that you don’t hear or read about in the media.

Here is my own Dalian photo Gallery.

Athens – Part II

George — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:43:27 +0000

The second part of my trip to Greece begins in the evening. Athens has a very busy nightlife. Thassos took us to a club, I don’t remember the name, but it was one of the best clubs ever. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos from that night, but I had a great time. The best thing about it was it’s location … right on the beach … Other stuff i remember: beautiful girls, the sea, clear sky, Absolut vodka with orange juice, sand. I think the music was ok too.

I don’t remember much of that night because we were kind of tired(we visited Athens all day) and we got hammered pretty fast. At one point I woke up on the beach, while a friend was telling me … Hey man, it’s 5 o’clock, let’s go home.

The next day was the beach day. We managed to wake up before 12a.m. and went to the beach.

Here’s a perfect way to get rid of a light hangover in Athens:

An interesting fact about the beaches in Athens: Are very polluted. And it is normal I think … That’s why the best, non polluted beaches are found on the islands. But we didn’t have the time or the money to go to an island, so Thassos took us somewhere out of the city, in a nice beach resort, at about 30-40km from Athens.

Although it was around 10 of May, it was very hot and we actually managed to get some sun burns.

After the beach … we went back to Thassos’s … the Finals of the Eurovision Contest were about to start. Everyone was crazy about it. Thassos even placed some bets, but no luck. We watched the Finals(Serbia won), we said good bye and parted. The coming home trip is one of the things I hate most in this world. Especially when you leave at night, tired, by car and it’s your turn to drive. I strongly don’t recommend it.

You can check out my entire Greece photo gallery.

Athens

George — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:36:48 +0000

We stayed in Athens for three days at a very good friend of ours, Thassos.

He has a big apartment on the last floor of a building, with a very nice terrace. Great place to throw a party or just to chill. Here’s the view:

He and his family welcomed us with a delicious traditional meal: some fish and cheese dishes and of course, a Greek salad made with home made olive oil:

The first thing we wanted to visit in Athens was The Acropolis(known as The “Sacred Rock”), one of the greatest ancient monuments in the world. Here I have a nice tip for you: If you are a STUDENT, whenever you go on a trip, take your student card with you. You never know when it might come in handy. For example, the price for entering the Acropolis was(last year) 12Euros, but students had free entrance. We were all students, but unfortunately some of us didn’t have their student cards and couldn’t prove they were students, so they had to pay.

On the top of the Acropolis lies The Parthenon(the temple of the Greek goddess Athena):

Around the Acropolis you can find a lot of souvenir shops, bars and restaurants. It’s a great place to try some Greek cuisine or just to relax, having a beer and enjoying the view of The Acropolis. A good Greek beer is MITHOS. I recommend it.

Walking through Athens, we were surprised to see so many orange trees. Everywhere you look, you see orange trees. Too bad that the oranges are not eatable. If they were, i think no one could sell oranges in Athens anymore.

We also visited Kallimarmaro Stadium( where took place the first modern Olympic Games – 1896),The Arch of Hadrian, The Temple of the Olympian Zeus, The University of Athens, and other important monuments and places that unfortunately I don’t remember anymore. Basically, you can visit most of the important sights in Athens in a single day.

You can check out my Greece photo gallery.