Jenna's China Blog: The Trip to Shenzhen, Including a Horse Ride!

We had a great trip to Shenzhen! We all enjoyed it a lot, and it was fun to meet the Shenzhen branch. We woke up early Saturday morning and rode a train down to Shenzhen. It was about an hour train ride. Twenty-four subway stops later (and only one transfer! We got tired of the subway.), we got to our hotel, called Fraser Place. It was built like an apartment complex and it had a pool! The rooms were like small apartments, so Tia and I got our own beds! :) We got to share a room.
After we had checked in we went to "Splendid China," a folk and culture village. It was a lot of fun! We got to see a man eat fire and stand on knives! It was way cool! Sadly I didn't take any pictures. I was too busy watching! And my camera was dead. Tia has a picture on her blog though! We also saw some replicas of famous landmarks like the Great Wall. It was pretty cool. The BEST part-for me-, though, was the reenactment of a famous battle( whose name I can't remember) ON HORSEBACK! I hadn't had any contact with or even seen a horse since we have been here, so I loved it! But the BEST part of the best part was that I GOT TO RIDE ONE OF THE HORSES! It was great! We were down watching the people get their horses get ready ( getting washed, groomed, saddled, ect.),when a guy comes riding up on this little brown horse and starts trying to talk to us in Chinese. Another chinese guy is standing there listening to the guy on the horse talk, then says something to Dad. Dad looks at me and says,"Do you want to ride a horse?" My reply to this completely bogus question was YES! So I got up on this horse with the guy thinking we would just walk and trot a bit. We trotted in to this HUGE arena where they do the show. The guy kicks the horse into a lope, and then a run! I was startled at first ( I am on a running horse who I have no control over with a strange Chinese guy?! A little nerve-wracking!) but then I loved it! It was good to be on a horse again! When I was done, Tia wanted to ride( of course). Dad was nervous about it, but she ended up getting to ride. Same thing. She had a nervous look on her face as they came out of the arena. She told me later that she was scared and she asked him to go slower. :) Of course he couldn't understand her! She enjoyed it and was proud that she loped on a horse. I was proud of her too. We had a great time! Here are the pics...