Fengxian Ocean Tourism Area

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Finally, after having spent about 9 weeks total time in China, we got to go to the ocean! It really was close like Jim said! We left after lunch on Saturday and took a taxi. I timed it and we got there in 22 minutes! It cost us 57RMB, or a little over $7USD to get there. We had reservations at the Howard Johnson's Palm Beach Resort, where Jim stayed on his first trip here.
After checking in, we headed out to explore!
We started out at the Long Teng Pavilion, which is a newer temple, but we figured we could get a nice view of the area, which we did. We just went to the area at the base before you enter the pavilion. It turns out that this is where the Chinese Opera Costume Museum is housed, but we decided to save that for another time. At this point, the tide was in .
We then decided to go into what they call the artificial beach amusement area. It cost Jim and I each 10RMB(1.29USD) and Leah was free. It wasn't crowded at all, but I bet it is in the summer! You could walk up to a wall right at the edge of the water, there were rides, an inflatable climbing wall and a little kids inflatable play area. We walked around and Leah played a game and won a little stuffed toy. The center was open for kite flying and it seemed like at any time during the day, there would be 5-7 kites in the air. We bought a kite and just relaxed a little. The weather was beautiful and we just sat and listened to the surf, ahhhhhhhhhh :-)
The sun started setting and we were getting hungry, but Leah wanted to do a ride first, so her and Jim went on the dragon boat ride. We noticed that the tide was going out, so Leah collected a few shells in a small area next to the rides.We were able to see a pretty sunset. There are 4 windmills from Holland that are 212 ft high and seem to make a nice backdrop for the whole area as well as providing a large amount of power.
We had dinner at the Western Restaurant in the hotel, then went swimming for awhile, then headed back to the room and watched a movie.
Sunday morning, after breakfast buffet at the hotel, we headed down to the water. We were on the Hangzhou Bay which the internet says has one of the 3 largest tides in the world? I'm not sure about that, but the tide was way out! We walked the other direction from where we were the night before and found steps going down to an area where you could access the water. We were surprised to see ATV's you could rent and horses you could ride. Jim and Leah went out on an ATV for 10 mins. Then Jim said he would sit and relax and Leah and I rented some boots and walked out on the mud flats. It took us about 20 mins to get out to where the edge of the water was and I could tell that the tide was already coming back in, so who knows how far it had been out! We were picking up shells and looking for little crabs. Quite a ways out on the mud flats, there were poles holding a large net, which at this point was laying down on the ground, not sure what it's purpose was. We just walked over it and went out towards the water where everyone else was. Leah is a definite "beach bum" and would have stayed out there for hours, but I told her that Jim would be wondering where we were and we headed back in.
While we were on the flats, a bunch of fireworks went off over the hotel, this is the custom when there is a wedding. Usually just a bunch of noise, but if it happens to be dark, sometimes they're pretty.
After checking out of the hotel and storing our bags, we went around the corner to a German Restaurant Jim knew of. After lunch, we walked back down to the water and were surprised to see that the tide was back in and everything where we had been just a couple hours earlier was completely under water! I'd like to watch the tide come in sometime.
We promised Leah we would come back!
Scroll down below the comments for more pics, then go to the second page.

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Photos

Long Teng Pavilion
We were able to go to the first balcony, above that is the Chinese Opera Costume Museum, which we decided not to do this trip.

View from Long Teng Pavilion
Looking out over the artificial beach/amusement park area

Sugarcane vendor
He is cutting off the outer "bark" with a large knife. The people chew on it, drinking the sweet juices, then spit out the pulp.

Long Teng Pavilion
In the center is where we bought Leah's kite.

Leah playing game
She was supposed to throw the ball through one of the holes and knock a stuffed toy down. She didn't, but the lady gave her a stuffed "Happy Goat" which you'll see in a later picture. 3 balls cost 10RMB, or about $1.30USD.

Kites
Leah's kite has the rainbow stripes

Leah
Playing in sand in artificial beach area

Leah
You can see her "Happy Goat" toy she won hanging on her hip pack. This is a very popular Chinese cartoon character. There are other goats and a wolf too.

Sunset
3 of the 4 Holland windmills and the dragon boat ride that Jim and Leah went on

Leah by mosaic picture
These mosaic pictures were all along the street. Thye looked like children's drawings that had beem made into the mosaic pictures.

Jim and Leah
Swimming in indoor pool at Palm Beach Hotel

Pet vendor
Turtles, bunnies and birds