OCT East is a theme park that was opened in summer of 2007, but it’s a bit hard to place it into a certain category. OCT is one of the biggest real estate companies in Shenzhen. They somehow managed to buy an area of about 9 square kilometers in the east of Shenzhen, close to DaMeiSha beach. The main attactions are the three major theme parks: Knight Valley, Tea Stream Valley and Wind Valley. There are lots of houses built in Swiss style, there is a tea area and there are performances during certain times of the day. There is also a huge golf course, hotels and real estate.
Currently (early 2009) there are two major attractions:
- Tea Stream Valley is a combination of western and eastern cultures, has
been constructed based on many fundamental elements such as tea,
Buddhism, follower and bamboo etc. - Wind Valley features Olympic and
golf sports, the Interlaken OCT Hotel, The Interlaken Spa, and the Tea
Show.
The second phase of the project, Knight Valley, will open in 2008 according to the website, but I didnt see it during my visit
. This park will distinguish itself by forests, rivers and outer space,
Red Wine Town and the Statue of Guanyin Sitting in a Lotus Throne.
We went to OCT East with our department at work. We bought tickets at some huge ticket office at the bottom of the mountain and then took some a free car to the funicular station. That train took us to the top of the mountain via a very steep road. From the train you get a good view of Dameisha beach. Afterwards we visited the Interlaken area with lots of Swiss-style houses and some performances. In this area you’ll also find lots of restaurants (including KFC) and the Interlaken hotel. Many couples come here to take wedding photos and we saw several of them during our visit.
After the Interlaken area, we walked to the tea area, but there is not so much to see there. The lion dance performance is supposed to be good, but we missed it unfortunately (only at certain times of the day). After the tea area, we walked down towards the botanical garden via some interesting bridges and then it was already 17 o’clock and we had to leave. There is also a mono-rail train that runs through the park.
Verdict 7.5/10
It’s a big theme park, and there is quite a lot to see. Make sure you arrive early, so you got enough time to see everything and view the performances. Currently several parts of the park – including more exciting rides – are not open yet. Would I go there again? Probably not, but it was fun going there once. We only had to wait one time, to get into the train, but besides that, no queues at all.
How to get there?
It’s a bit far away and most people seemed to go there with travel groups. You can take a bus to Dameisha though and walk to OCT East from there.
website: octeast.com
opening times: 9:30-18:30, or 9:00-19:00 if it is a holiday or a festival.
tickets: 120-150RMB, tea show separate
Some photos:
