Tianjin weekend

Last weekend my roommate Craig and I decided to take an excursion to Tianjin, China's fifth largest city. I was not really sure what to expect out of this weekend trip as I really did not know much about Tianjin and I left all the trip planning up to my buddy Craig.

Unlike our trip to Beijing, Craig and I had no trouble getting a proper train to Tianjin. Upon leaving the train station, we were greeted with a spectacular city skyline from the Hai River. Tianjin has a long history of foreign influence and you can see from the buildings. Tianjin looks like a mixture of China and Western Europe. 

We arrived at our economy hotel called the IBIS. The hotel was actually very clean and comfortable, I preferred it to the hostel we had booked in Beijing that reminded me of a college dorm. The IBIS actually felt like a hotel. It also had a separated shower in the bathroom, which I had not experienced since I left for China. Although our window view was a depressing abandoned warehouse, which a family was using as a home... After taking pictures of the Tianjin skyline, Craig and I decided to stay in for the first night. We enjoyed a hilarious dubbed version of "Bad Girls Club" on Chinese TV, complete with a bitchy remake of their attitudes.

Unfortunately, I see contrasts in China like this everyday. Fancy, modern areas next to incredibly impoverished 

As we awoke the next morning, we decided to do some exploring of the city. Our first stop was to see the Tianjin eye. It is a Ferris wheel  replica of the famous London Eye that overlooks the Hai River. It was a very smoggy day in Tianjin so we decided to save the riding of the eye for another time where we could get some good pictures.

Tianjin Eye

Tianjin Fishing

Our second stop brought us to a basic Chinese market, complete with street food, vendors, and fake name brand items (I bought a fake Gucci belt. Holla!). We decided to be a little adventurous and ate at a whole in the wall restaurant with no pictures on the menu. We said the Mandarin words for beef and beer and hoped for the best. Luckily, we were pleasantly surprised when we received a hearty bowl of beef soup with potatoes! 

Lunch Roulette 

Our tasty meal had us energized and ready to do some more sight seeing. We wandered over to The Ancient Culture street market in Tianjin. The Ancient Culture Street is in fact a collection of streets offering traditional Qing-style architecture and décor of a typically Tianjin style. Shops on the streets feature delicately carved bricks and watercolor paintings. We tried some handcrafted lollipops designed after Chinese zodiac animals. They were unique and tasty, but the candy got stuck in my teeth!!

Ancient Culture Street Market

The Candy man making a rabbit

After a an hour or so of exploring the culture market and playing Chinese hacky sack with some locals, Craig's female friend and Tianjin resident "Ace" picked us up to show us some of the local flare of the city.

We first stopped at the 5 avenues of Tianjin. The “Five-Avenue Area”, which has become one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Tianjin, is a section of the city that had been once been dedicated to European style homes. An important reason for the reputation of the western buildings in Tianjin is that the people who once lived in the buildings were unusual. Two presidents of the Republic of China and seven Premiers or acting Prime Ministers once resided here in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition, a large number of celebrities of different fields left their historical mark in the “Five-Avenue Area” of Tianjin,

Chinese grandmas playing Chinese games by 5 avenues

Chinese wedding crashing

A few subway cars, quick stops, and a picture taking stroll down the Hai River, we went on our way to see Italian Style Town. This is a small area of Tianjin that contains several western restaurants and shops. Being here, I felt I was not in China, but in Europe. This is because all the buildings in this place were built based on Italian architecture. Italian Style Town was built in the early 1900s during foreign occupation of the city. There is a good selection of bars, restaurants, and picture worthy buildings .

Our night would conclude with a little pizza, drinking, and dancing at Helen's bar across town. Ace explained this was a popular place for expats because of its great pizza and beer. We devoured our pizza, guzzled our beer, puffed hookah, and sang Justin Bieber at the top of our lungs until the sun came up.

As you see I'm not a smoker.

Filling our bellies with donkey soup and sandwiches the next morning for breakfast, it was time to depart the hotel. I left Craig and Ace to "pack", while I did a little bit of sight seeing. My hour of time to kill led me to the Dabei Buddhist Temple.  It is a famous ancient Buddhist monastery which once held the holy ashes of Xuanzang, a monk of the Tang Dynasty. It was a busy Sunday morning at the temple, with plenty of people practicing ancient Buddhist customs. I was not sure if I was allowed to take pictures here, but I decided to anyway until someone told me to stop. The statues of Buddha gods here were colorful, large, and beautiful. This was a eye opening and unforgettable experience for me because it was the first time I had ever stepped foot in a religious building that was not a Christian church. I was really fascinated by it all and was so excited when I saw real life monks walking about!

The final stop in our Tianjin weekend tour led us to the Beining Park. The park was originally built in 1906 as a botanical garden and revamped a couple years ago. The coolest thing about the park was the huge pagoda tower in the middle of the park. Beining park also had a nice small lake and antique style Chinese buildings. One thing I have noticed about parks in China is that most are built to be impressive. I feel like the parks I been to have unique look and style to them that makes you want to go there. 

Our trip concluded with a rainy train ride back to Tangshan. As I tried to sleep and be in my own thoughts, our curious train passengers woke me up to talk. They were so curious about Craig and I. We chatted the rest of the ride and ended up having some interesting stories to laugh about later, but this was actually one of the few times I did not want my "celebrity" status drawing attention to me. I just wanted to sleep!! 

Until next time friends!!