LEOFOO VILLAGE

ever since seeing the commercial for leofoo village i have wanted to go. the only thing is up until recently i didn't even know where it was. leofoo village is an amusement park and since i have been in taiwan i rarely get to go toamusement parks(the last time i went to one was in tokyo in 1999). as luck would have it there is a little shuttle bus that will take you to leofoo village from about a block away from my house. it costs nt$100(around 3 u.s. dollars) from here to leofoo. the ride can be a bit bumpy and there are quite a few stops between here and leofoo but it only takes about an hour so not too bad(i live in the south of the city, from other locations it may take longer). i went with my friend peter. leofoo's prices go down after 3 o'clock so we left in the afternoon and arrived about 30 minutes early so we sat around waiting for the entrance fee to go down. the park closes early compared to amusement parks elsewhere. around 9pm.

leofoo village is not the biggest amusement park. no big rollercoasters, but enough to still keep me occupied and happy. the park is divided into several themed areas. there is an arabian section, south pacific section, old west section as well as a zoo.

we started off with the zoo. its small and not that interesting. though you can get a camel ride for nt$50(just under 2 u.s. dollars). the best thing in the zoo was the pink flamingoes. i always think about that john waters movie when i think of them. but they really are amazing birds to watch. on a sadder note, the one elephant we saw looked really sad and in desperate need of a bath.










after the zoo we headed into the arabian section. the first ride we went on was a trip through an egyptian tomb. you ride in a "truck/jeep" that rocks back and forth as it takes you past various scary sites. it was pretty fun, but a little rough, and sometimes went past certain sections too fast. oddly, enough at the end of this ride they were selling some merchadise(skull related) that was only sold at the end of this ride. i bought some cool skull candle and a skull head that contained little skulls connected to sticks for eating fruit with. the prices were cheap. i found in general the prices for things like food and postcards to be quite good compared to what you would find at some other amusement parks.

after this ride we took in some other rides in this area. the magic carpet ride which is not a favourite of mine, but the little kids on this ride seemed to find it very scary. the carpet ride is on the roof of one of the buildings so when it goes up you can get a good view of the surrounding area. quite nice.

the last ride we went on in this area was some multimedia ride. one of those ones where you sit in a theater with seats connected to hydraulic jacks that move you around so you are supposed to feel like you are moviing along with the movie they are showing. before you get to the theater you are ushered into some room where they set up the premise of the ride. so you enter this room, and a screen comes down and a little movie plays having to do with some princess being held prisoner and about aladdin's lamp. well, they had trouble getting to the beginning of the clip. i was surprised it was on videotape and not on a digital media of some sort. then some robotic creatures descended from the ceiling to further set up the ride. all in chinese and i was getting a little bored. then we are ushered to the theater, before we can go in we are shown yet another clip on monitors telling us that if you are pregnant, or old, or sick that you shouldn't go in. and that you can't eat inside either. once inside we found our seats and the ride really began. it was your typical running through caves, being attacked by knives, falling down holes, sort of film. i found it to be rather on the lame side. i just felt like i was watching a bad movie. despite being jolted around by the seats i never felt like i was doing anything other than watching something on a movie screen. and i've been at real movies where i felt more than this thing. oh well, one to avoid next time i go.



after this we headed to the south pacific area. here we hit the pirate boat(which was actually one of my favourite rides at the park), we wanted to go on the log ride(or there version of one) but it was being fixed. so we hit the free fall type ride. i must be getting really chicken in my old age as i was really scared to go on it. unlike other rides of this nature when you get to the top you find yourselves inside this demon idol skull that rests at the top of the column. and you aren't up there too long before you come flying down. since you are inside the demon head, you can't really look around and admire the sites. you can only really do that when you are on your way up or when you are flying down. i went on a similiar ride when i was in tokyo and that one left you up there for a few minutes to look around so that you never knew when you were going to drop. this one you didn't have too much time to think about it. which for me is probably for the best considering what a chicken i am.

after this ride, we took in some safer rides, and then the log boat ride was open again. so we hopped on! another one of my favourites. we rode it twice. i wanted to ride it again at night. but it was too cold and it would of been no fun to be wet on the bus ride home with air conditioning blowing on you.

around and above the log ride they have what is called "the lost world". its a series of caves and stone steps and bridges you can climb around. you can also look down on the people on the log ride. there are various dinosaurs and dinosaur bones to look at in this area as well.

also in the south pacific section there was a tiki bar of some sort as well as these nifty telephones carved like tiki gods of some sort. well, maybe not exactly tiki but i'll call them that anyway. and these statues of some sort of native peoples. i'm not sure if they are based on a real tribe somewhere or something made up for the park.














after this we headed to the old west section. we had dinner in some sort of saloon that had a stage in it. it felt really odd, to be in this sort of place that felt so western, so american and yet to know i am really in taiwan. it brought back memories of going to places like this when i was small with my family. anyway, in this saloon there is a stage, and in the middle of our meal the curtains opened and two robots(moving manicans?) sang old west songs. a woman sitting on a piano and a man playing the piano. apparently there are normally lots of shows and mascots walking around the park. but i didn't see any the day were there. maybe its just too early in the season.

there weren't that many exciting rides in this area. there is a river rafting ride though. it clearly says that "you will get wet" while you are in line. both in chinese and in english. actually most of the signs with requirements for height or weight were in both chinese and english. we were a little disappointed as we didn't get that wet at all. but maybe because it was late. there is an area where people have water cannons and they can shoot the rafters. when we went by this area there was no one there though.

after this we headed back to the arabian section to ride the carousel and then headed out to catch our bus. this is always the saddest part. walking away from all the lights and excitement to return to our regular hum drum lives.

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