A Wonder of a Mall
It’s gonna be big! It may not be now, but from what I could tell, there was a lot of construction going on behind the walls.I’m talking about the South China Mall. You may have remembered me mentioning some facts about it last year. It is touted to be the World’s Largest Mall. And it is right here in Dongguan City. It’s just across town.
You may have even read about it in an April edition of Newsweek magazine. There it made the list of the 7 New Man Made Wonders of the World. Quite a feat!
But at over 6 million square feet of space, it is BIG! It consumes the space of more than 150 football fields. That is far bigger than the Mall of America in Wisconsin, and even bigger than that Canadian mammoth entry to mall fame in Edmonton. There is an amusement park area already open, a planned IMAX theater, a Paris and Italian section complete with gondolas, and much more.
A couple of friends and I toured through the amusement area Sunday. It was neat to see locals trying the rides. You could tell that they had never seen the likes of anything like these rides before. They gawked at the thrill seekers jumping on seats that rise to the sky just to drop ya a hundred feet in a few seconds. We rode the log flume ride, a rather sedate version of many I’ve seen and ridden before. But my co-rider, Ivy, didn’t know a thing about the ride. She had never seen anything like it and being the only riders on this day, she had no idea what to expect. When we reached the last slope, she was questioning her decision and ready to get off. As for me, I thought it was great… except maybe for all the water in the bottom of the boat. My socks are still wet.
Not much of the mall is open yet otherwise. A few department stores, a Pizza Hut, and a McDonald’s were some of the few. None seemed to be doing that much business on this wet and rainy day.
The gondola ride was running in a moat that circled right through the huge complex. Even though the gondola resembled the shape of those in Italy or at the Venetian in Las Vegas, that’s where similarities ended. The gondoliers didn’t dress so neatly. And the speed…. unbelievable. These were not sedate little relaxing romantic rides. These boats were powering through the channel creating quite a wake! They didn’t want to waste any time. I couldn't even get a good picture they went by so fast. I guess being so big of a mall meant they had to go faster to get all the way around the complex in reasonable time. Of course, the Chinese move along in most every powered type vehicle in this country. The rain dampened our enthusiasm from riding. Maybe next visit.
It will be some mall. I’m not so sure I would put it in a ranking of the 7 Wonders of the World. But it will be something to behold.
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 4:06 PM
Comments: 0
