The desert of Nanchang

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So there's a desert in Nanchang apparently... It's not very big and it's mostly man-made, but it was pretty fun to go to. Mostly funny, but fun in it's own way. It took a while to get to. Not because it's far, but because the roads there were almost one-way streets and in about ten different spots there were hold-ups that completely stopped traffic going both ways.

The scenery leading up to the desert was confusing because it was mostly moist areas like rice fields. When we got closer there were pine trees and finally we got to the "desert" which pretty much just looked like a big sand based theme park. There were dune buggy rides, four wheeler rides, horse rides, camel rides, donkey rides, sledding down the sand hills and zip-lining which involved a small boat ride back. Boat ride? Oh yes, this desert is right by the river. We could see ships in the distance and evidently it's the same river that eventually makes its way to Camilla and Pravine's. Sigh.

When we got to the main area we met up with Luke's teacher and her husband and children. We all had a nice lunch together and then got in line for the camels. The camels were what I had been hearing about in the car-ride there so I knew how excited the kids were to go and see them. Thing is camels are pretty big up close and once the kids got up there almost all of them were freaking out except Luke who was riding with me. They all did well once the camels stood up, but I was glad it was a short ride.

After we got done with the camels we went over to the zip line queue where we stood in the sun for another 1 & 1/2 for another 2 minute ride. It was super fun 2 minutes but I was rather glad to know we'd be heading home afterwords. The location for the zip line was beautiful, it was over the water to a little island right off the shore. I gave into the temptation and sang a little of the Indiana Jones theme song to myself while zipping through the air.

After it was all done we thankfully plodding across the sand again to the car where we once again navigated the nearly one-way roads and Pravine dropped me off at home. I thankfully was able to just rest today and I hopefully I'll be a bit more productive tomorrow. Maybe....

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Photos

The camels we rode
The kids were pretty freaked out when we got on them, but once we were up and about they enjoyed the short loop we rode on.

Go Pravine
Pravine before making the plunge down...

Island view
This is a view from the island we zipped to looking at the mainland.

Boat
Pravine thinks the desert might have been part of the river at one point... I think this boat that's near the sand might give proof to that...

Bwhahaha
So... when you got dropped of from the boat to the mainland you have to walk up a hill to get back to where you were. There's a path that leads directly up. It looks shorter, but it's incredibly steep and sandy. There were others who were going along a lot less steep path so I followed them while Pravine and the others tried the the hill. My path was longer, but it led to some stairs that made going up the hill easy. I made it up quick with time to spare to laugh... I mean encourage the others as they continued laboring up the hill. Hehehehe... *cough cough*