Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Tianjin - An Epic Adventure

Today we successfully bought tickets to Tianjin, although this morning started off just as rocky as yesterday had. Valentina's alarm hadn't gone off so if James hadn't texted her to see if she was awake she wouldn't have made it and we would have gone back home. At 7:25 (only 25 minutes late - that's a record for her :) ), she arrived at the subway station and we made our trek back to Beijing South Railway Station (BSRS) to purchase our tickets. Luckily we got 3 tickets on an earlier train than we would have been on had we gone yesterday. Our return train departed at 6 pm, so we were going to have almost 8 hours in Tianjin. On the trip there, I was seated by the window, so I got to watch the scenes change outside. I also tried studying for the TKT Exam I have to take in a little over 2 weeks, but on a 35 minute train ride, you can't do much. Once we arrived in Tianjin, we started walking around. We saw several clocks and then kept walking down by the river. Once we crossed the river, we took pictures of a tank and then walked around what we think was either "5 big roads" or the "Culture Section." We walked around there for awhile and then decided to find something to eat. Tianjin is known for their baozi (steamed buns with a filling), so we chose a restaurant that had many people eating there (that's how we judge if it's a decent place to eat) and ordered lunch. We ordered 7 pork baozi and 7 veggie baozi, 2 cokes and a Sprite. The baozi were delicious and the drinks were lukewarm, even though we asked for bingda (cold). After lunch, we walked around some more and went to the China House, a house literally made of porcelain china. There are 4 floors to this house with a staircase right in the middle so Valentina went to the top floor, James to the bottom, and me in the middle and we took a picture so where you can see all of us. After the China House and Little Italy (a section of Tianjin that has a Bavarian biergarden, a Russian food shop, and several Italian-structured buildings), we walked around a main shopping avenue and found a Starbucks, because by then we all wanted to sit down and relax a little. James and I ordered drinks and then the three of us sat and chatted for a little while before walking through the attached mall looking for a bathroom. When we left the mall, we kept walking around Tianjin and back down by the river. It was about an hour and a half before we were even thinking about returning to the station, so we walked around a little bit more and sat in an area by the river and people watched. It was so funny to see the Chinese people take pictures because they would properly pose for them. Think photo shoot for a magazine and that's what you'd get. Since it was by the river, we also were thinking that it would be funny if someone fell in; however, no one did. The water would have been frigid as the high today was only about 20* C. At 5ish, we walked into the station, went through the metal detector (I don't even think it was on), and found our gate. Valentina went and got a snack while James and I waited with her things. On the train back to Beijing, I sat separated from the other two (Valentina did on the trip to Tianjin) and read my book and listened to my iPod. Since it was dark, I couldn't really see much. The return trip wasn't all that fun. I hadn't eaten a proper meal all day so I was already grumpy and to top it off I was in the middle of a major mood swing, so I just wanted to get home and not talk to anyone. On the subway from the BSRS to Lishuiqiao Nan, I blared my music really loud in my ears and tried to avoid anyone and everyone, including Valentina and James (I must really apologize to them). Once I arrived back at the Lishuiqiao Nan station, I quickly left the station and walked home, grabbing dinner at a local restaurant before coming back to the apartment. My roomie is still on holiday so it's been nice to not have to worry about another person. Well, I think she's home now, so I better go. Talk to you later! :)

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