Several recent weekends had been pretty dull. With no movies to see, I genuinely did not know what to do with myself. Ever since visiting the Fushun Aquarium back in 2019, I had been meaning to make the rounds of the cities in Liaoning. So about two hours before I got off work on Friday, I bought a ticket to Nanfen Grand Canyon on impulse.
Shenyang to Benxi is not far. The bullet train, high-speed rail, and coach all cost around thirty-something yuan one way, which is not bad. If you take the train, you get off at Nanfen Station and then take a taxi to the canyon; I heard it is about ten yuan. The whole scenic area is a closed loop, so you just keep walking forward. There are only two routes: the paid one and the free one. There is almost no proper food inside, mostly light snacks, like jianbing rolled with scallion. I briefly thought I had ended up in Shandong, though maybe people in Shandong do not actually eat scallions that way either.
After you enter the main gate, there is a lake at the bottom of the valley with plenty of fish in it. That is more or less the starting point.
After the lake comes the uphill path. To be honest, I had not realized this was going to be a climb. I assumed there would be a direct bus or a cable car to the top. It turned out to be more than an hour of stairs, maybe the equivalent of thirty floors. The ticket did not mention any climbing. So much for avoiding forced spending.
The first attraction at the top was the bungee jump, which was the whole reason for the trip. The height is about 128 meters, and the lowest point is around 40 meters above the ground, roughly forty stories. That is twice as high as the one at Dalian Xinghai, which the park clearly benchmarks itself against. The price is 380 yuan per jump. There is no photo service; a companion or a staff member has to help, and companions seemingly are not charged extra.
I did not get to jump. My luck was terrible. Out of 365 days, the one day I came was the day it was not operating normally. A performance group had apparently booked the whole thing.
After the bungee platform comes a ride you often see in amusement parks, the kind that straps you in and flings you around. I cannot remember the name, but that is where the screaming started. Doing it on a mountaintop also makes you feel like you are about to be tossed into the valley.
Past that is a free area called Sky Mirror. It is mostly a lot of mirrors, but the design is quite clever.
After taking photos comes the glass bridge, with more screaming. There had already been a suspension bridge earlier, but that one was very stable. The glass bridge made plenty of people uncomfortable and panicky. I was not bothered. If anything, I thought the glass could use a cleaning.
The glass bridge can be bypassed. The detour apparently leads to another lake, and below that lake there is a small waterfall. But most of the park is one-way, so I could not go around to see the waterfall.
Then came the real suspension bridge: an iron-chain bridge where a slip could actually send you down. So they give you a harness. After crossing, I found I did not really need it. The harness is probably there because the bridge boards are genuinely slippery after rain, and because it makes the screaming people feel safer.
After the iron-chain bridge, you are on the other side of the canyon. Facing the bungee platform is a cliff swing: you are strapped into a chair and swung out over the cliff. I did not consider it at all. It costs extra, and honestly, it did not seem exciting.
A little later you reach a building that is another mirror-type place. I did not count carefully, but they say there are twelve halls. The last one is the interesting part: an all-glass maze.
After the maze, only two sections remain: the dry slide and the water slide. The dry slide is basically a giant slide, with thick pants or a pad and gloves. There is a flaw here: wearing shorts is uncomfortable. Also, a friendly warning: do not slide down behind a bratty kid. One kid made me stop about five times before I finally got down.
The water slide comes after that. You ride a kayak down a water channel. It is also basically a giant slide, and they give you a raincoat. I think it is better not to put the hood up; it feels more exciting that way. There is another flaw: to maximize revenue, the park almost never lets a single visitor go down. So even a family of three gets split up. Strange.
Dry slide or water slide, the essence is the same: going from high to low. That means you are descending, and it really is easier going down than up. The water slide drops you right at the park entrance. There is supposedly a walking path down too, but it is very long.
Overall, it is a continuous sequence. The park is designed so that if you do not do any attractions and just buy admission, there is almost nothing to do. Excluding the bungee and the cliff swing, the combo ticket for the other rides is 170 yuan, which is not expensive. The water and popsicles inside are cheap; the jianbing with scallion is only five yuan, which is pretty fair. Still, the whole place gives you the feeling that you have been once and do not need a second visit. The route is just too linear.
The theme leans toward adventure and thrills. But for people chasing thrills, nothing except the bungee is thrilling enough. For people who are easily frightened, most of it is too much.
Maybe a long, long time from now I will go back, for the bungee jump.