The latest adventure has been to Tianjin, a city only 30 minutes from Beijing via the high-speed train. In order to get there it actually took Eunju and I 40 minutes to get to Beijing South Railway Station. Alas, despite the close proximity of the city it felt like I was travelling internationally as you must present your passport when purchasing a train ticket – just another way for the Chinese government to keep tabs on people and this causes some delay. We arrived in Tianjin in the early afternoon.
We didn’t really have any particular plans for Tianjin, it was just 2 days away to spend together as Eunju had just returned from a month in South Korea. We checked into out hotel to discover we were sharing the room with Susan. Susan is a fish that lives in the room who has a sign beside her tank which stated that Susan welcomed us. Now, I’d already proposed introducing another female to the bedroom to Eunju, it’s just that I was hoping she’d be human. We had the pressure of looking after Susan, which I didn’t expect or need. It would have been big news in Tianjin had something happened to her, I imagine the headlines reading; “Foreigners comes to Tianjin, kill fish.” We survived the weekend, as did Susan.
Out into the city and Tianjin has an extraordinary European feel to it. The city is clean, quaint, and walking around makes you think you could be in London, Barcelona, Milan or Paris. This comes from European establishment around the 1850s. In October 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded a British registered boat called the Arrow on suspicion of piracy, the Chinese imprisoned the 12 crew and removed the British flag. The British, rather peeved at this incident, then decided to then take control of the ports in Tianjin. 13,000 British and 7,000 French naval forces fought off the 200,000-strong Chinese army to claim the ports. The British then opened the city to foreign trade. Today you can see European architectural reminders.
History lesson over, Eunju and I first decided to head to Tianjin Water Park. Not a water park, but more a park with water. It was really nice, but far too hot. Walking in 37°C heat isn’t advisable. We took refuge, with ice creams, in a small pagoda-ish type building and watched the elderly dance. They can really move! More and more turned up with baiju (Chinese liquor) and beers and danced away. It was thoroughlu enjoyable.
Soon after we headed to Porcelain House – an entire mansion decorated in china. It looked rather strange from the outside. A French-design building used to be home to a finance minister, then converted into a bank, now a strange museum. We paid our ¥50 (£5.50) to look inside and that was a waste of money. The inside has antiques stacked high with absolutely nothing of interest to see. While the outside intrigues the inside has a feel more like a furniture store. Save your money and look at it from the street.
We meandered around the city and along the river. The river side is a really beautiful place with old European and Chinese buildings in between the new sky rises of modern China. The river is also very clean, much cleaner than Beijing tap water anyway. The elderly people of Tianjin are very active, when they’re not dancing they’re swimming in the river.
The people in Tianjin seem much more relaxed, nicer and happier. You sometimes forget that you’re in China. Just when you’re enjoying life you get an unpleasant reminder of someone hocking up phlegm. Yep, still in China.
The following day, we got up late, ate some spicy Sichuan food and took a ride on the Tianjin Eye, a Ferris wheel which stretches across the river. It seemed like a good idea until we go inside the cabins. The glass intensifies the heat making it feel like an oven. The view was nice, but it wasn’t worth melting for half an hour.
We got the train back to dirty Beijing. Tianjin doesn’t offer much in the form of sightseeing, but it was a welcome break from Beijing and I’ll have a favourable memory of Tianjin.
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| 291 km/h to Tianjin |
Out into the city and Tianjin has an extraordinary European feel to it. The city is clean, quaint, and walking around makes you think you could be in London, Barcelona, Milan or Paris. This comes from European establishment around the 1850s. In October 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded a British registered boat called the Arrow on suspicion of piracy, the Chinese imprisoned the 12 crew and removed the British flag. The British, rather peeved at this incident, then decided to then take control of the ports in Tianjin. 13,000 British and 7,000 French naval forces fought off the 200,000-strong Chinese army to claim the ports. The British then opened the city to foreign trade. Today you can see European architectural reminders.
History lesson over, Eunju and I first decided to head to Tianjin Water Park. Not a water park, but more a park with water. It was really nice, but far too hot. Walking in 37°C heat isn’t advisable. We took refuge, with ice creams, in a small pagoda-ish type building and watched the elderly dance. They can really move! More and more turned up with baiju (Chinese liquor) and beers and danced away. It was thoroughlu enjoyable.
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| Strictly no romping. Eunju was gutted. |
The following day, we got up late, ate some spicy Sichuan food and took a ride on the Tianjin Eye, a Ferris wheel which stretches across the river. It seemed like a good idea until we go inside the cabins. The glass intensifies the heat making it feel like an oven. The view was nice, but it wasn’t worth melting for half an hour.
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| Sichuan food is known for being spicier than spicy! |
We got the train back to dirty Beijing. Tianjin doesn’t offer much in the form of sightseeing, but it was a welcome break from Beijing and I’ll have a favourable memory of Tianjin.
