ChimeLong Paradise is a theme park enthusiast’s paradise. It is located in Panyu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, and is the largest amusement park in China with over 60 attractions. It is really well maintained; I didn’t catch a single sight of any trash anywhere, much less spit. It really defied my imagination, because I must admit, my imagination was a bit, well, truthfully, very much inclined towards the negative side. I had thought the worst, since it was China, and all the horror stories about China’s lifts and escalators occurred just before I went there. And if normal facilities like lifts and escalators could malfunction so terribly, what about rollercoasters with all its twists and loops??? I was pretty much afraid that it would be my last amusement park ever, but once I reached there, it dawned on me that my fears were unfounded.

My fears abated, my enthusiasm skyrocketing, I started to ease into my first ride, which turned out to be the most stimulating ride in ChimeLong. It was the Dive Coaster. It peaks at 60 metres and its speed is highest at 110km/h! I was required to raise my hands in the air while peering down into my ere long 60-metre high descent and say my lines just before the vertical plummet. My first try was a fail, because I said the lines too fast before the rollercoaster dived down, but how could I really estimate well on my first try right? But I got it right on my second try!

The 10-inversion rollercoaster was a little drier in comparison, surprisingly, because it does look really quite intimidating, but once the coaster started to move, the ride seemed rather slow, and it really felt quite slow when I was in it. I found out that its maximum speed is only 72km/h, so despite the many inversions, the relatively sluggish rate at which the coaster moves dampens much of the fun.

Actually, one ride left an unprecedented deep impression on me, and that is the Bumper Car ride. I hadn’t played bumper cars ever since I was a child, so it was a really fun drive down the memory lane.