Shenkuu: The Brink of Economic Success

I’m here today to talk to you about Shenkuu. The enigmatic eastern mountain village of Neopia, with ancient tradition and exotic customs. While most of the town remains a mystery, the shops are open, and slowly but surely an economy is building up. I dug as deep as my shovel could go, but finding only dirt, I decided to go to Shenkuu to find out more.

I interviewed Shen Kuu, a Shenkese Wocky who loves her home so deeply she legally changed her name to resemble it. She grew up here, knows its peaks and valleys, and stopped me from falling off one of the mountains. Now the head of Tourism and Industry, she told me about the discovery of Shenkuu:

“When Altador was discovered, we knew our home was to be exposed eventually. We figured we had a while, though, but in a few months, we had been discovered. Because of our presumption that we had more time to plan for the Neopians’ arrival, we only had our shops to satisfy them.”

Most people don’t visit Shenkuu on a regular basis; I don’t, as the shops are always sold out anyway. But now, slowly, Shenkuu is starting to gain fame. Says Kuu:

“It took us a while; preparing activities, going through proper channels. We really want to make Shenkuu fun and exciting, a tourist destination. Only now, though, have we really started to shine as a community. Our achievements, while few, are successful, and you can be sure that more is coming. Games, activities, our own Cooking Pot, and the infamous Shenkese shops are what make up the culture response when a Neopian hears the word 'Shenkuu'.”

Now I, Cornelia Economus Touristicus Smith, will list (in order of appearance*) the economic strengths of Shenkuu.

First off, Godori. Shenkuu was slowly declining in tourist numbers, and this card game brought memories of the town roaring back. The Shenkese Culture Council (SCC) were opposed to treating the ancient tradition of Godori as “a throwaway card game”. When asked, Kuu spoke about the controversy:

“We tried to explain to the council that, though we were releasing the sacred game to the public, that the activity would be treated with utmost respect. I, as a patriotic Shenkese Wocky, made sure that people knew it was a privilege, not a right, that we let them play.”

Godori is such a highly complicated game that even I can’t understand the rules. Something about putting cards on each other and stealing them. I am assured, though, that is it quite fun.

Next on the chopping block, erm, list, are Shenkuu Petpets. From the Juma, with its cute little cuteness, to the Kazeriu, with its other... cuteness. Shenkuu petpets are so cute! They’re all fluffy and itty-bitty and... Well, erm, anyway, Kuu had something to say on the matter:

“We tried very hard to keep Shenkuu petpets hidden. Every single pet had a petpet, the petpet shop was full, and we had to build a playground for the rest. And we still had wild petpets! We would’ve called in the PPL, but they didn’t know we existed... it was kind of a mess. We had to have people travel into the mountains to stop the petpets from leaving, just to have some privacy from the rest of the world.”

Kuu dragged on for a while, but I stopped listening. Anywho, another Shenkuu game, Revel Roundup, was released. Kuu, who I now believe is something of a loudmouth, had this to say:

“We wanted the game to have the feel of Usuki Frenzy, a simple game of Shenkuu Hide-and-Seek, if you will. Unfortunately, in beta testing, one the fireworks accidentally went off and caused an awful mess.”

I enjoyed Revel Roundup, except when a firework almost blew up my arm. I’m simply waiting for a combination between it and Usuki Frenzy, which I have called “Super Usuki Revel Roundup Cornelia Is Cool Despite What Anyone Says Frenzy!”

Next off, our penultimate* Shenkuu wonder, the Lunar Festival! The Lunar Festival is a neat little shindig honouring Kreludor, which is Shenkese for “Night Glower”. An added bonus is that the old Gnorbu (Captain Tuan’s father) has agreed to keep the Lunar Temple open all year round, so Shenkuu can have its first daily! Kuu said something about this, but by this time I was no longer listening. But my brother, Cornelius Astronomicus Telescopicus, decided to add in on the conversation.

“First off, Cornelia, you begged me to help you with this article, and second off, hello to my many, many, fans. Now onto business. The Gnorbu of the Lunar Temple asks us to position the view we would see if Kreludor was at the given phase. Now, Neopia orbits around the sun on a 365 day year, and divided that by the 24 hours it takes Kreludor to orbit Neopia, then Neopia’s rotation, add the axis of Neopia, and subtract the degrees of the position of Kreludor and you’ll have a number corresponding to the phase Kreludor is in.”

What? Okay, I’m confused. Whatever he said. Something about the Lunar Festival.

Now, our finale of these chronological* Shenkese wonders: Kou-Jong! The tricky little tile game that I still don’t understand. That’s why I had to interview Linae. She said,

“Actually, Cornelia, it’s really simple. You just have to match two tiles that have the same design and are free to use; it’s not that hard. The main objective is to use all the tiles, like so. I even have two books on the subject: Kou-Jong for Dummies and Kou-Jong for Dummies II.”

I ignored her, mainly because I was distracted by an interesting tree. The point being, Shenkuu games are really hard, and if you don’t understand them at first, give up!**

In closing, Shenkuu is an exciting and exotic place. Though a surprise discovery left it somewhat floundering as a tourist destination, the land continues to flourish after adding more activities to interest Neopians. Good job, Shenkuu!

*Not chronological

**Not a valid point