A day well spent at Shenzhen's Splendid China theme park

The other day I was called a "dick" by a woman interviewing me for some magazine about my Sichuan cooking. It was because I had mentioned that I didn't think women should be classified as a special-interest minority group, rather that they should be referred to as just "people".

Being well-mannered, the writer naturally didn't insult me to my face, but wrote it in an email to her boss, the magazine editor, who sent it to me, most likely by mistake.

I read that email on the way to Shenzhen, where I was going with my male friends A and F to visit Splendid China, a theme park featuring everything that is in China and more, but in miniature. Although "dick" isn't the worst thing I've been called - by far - I felt, frankly, a bit miffed.

All was soon forgotten, however, when I went to buy my entrance ticket to the park. A and F paid 180 yuan (HK$228) each to get in, just like it said on the sign. So why did the ticket seller charge me only 90 yuan? Did I suddenly look, I don't know, younger than 12?

Then it dawned on me. It was International Women's Day.

Ha ha! Who's the dick now, eh? But hang on … a discount for women, as if we're a special-interest, less solvent minority? Oh well, I saved 90 yuan and I still didn't feel like a minority.