5am and we arrived at the Beijing Train station at 6:30am.Our train
was at 6:50am. We arrived in Tianjin, China around 8am. The train was
like an airplane seating...with row seats and pull down trays for
food, if needed.
Sunrise at the Beijing Train Station
Once we got to the city, we were lost for ideas. We ended up eating
breakfast and went to the Ancient goods area. Afterwards, we walked
over the bridge of the Hai River (literally, Sea River--it leads to
the sea). It was a very charming, European sight with European
architecture.Heavy French influence. There were even little boats!
Then we went to Tianjin's famous restaurant, Gou Bu Li,
which is famous for their steamed buns. Really pricey and not worth
the hype, as it always is.
(We didn't eat at this location though!)
Not just any baozi - it's GOU BU LI bao zi! :)
Here's one of the more "ancient" looking areas in Tianjin.
Then we walked along Tianjin's "bu xing jie"--shopping district--(literally means street for walking to go shopping!). But, its huge and never-ending so they have cars that disrupt the "walking street." Boo!
After that, we decided to go to UBC coffee and sat for a while and rested. (We got train tickets back to Beijing that day for 10:17PM) Then went back to Buxingjie and enjoyed the nightscapes of Tianjin. Very Parisian and Venetian feel.
There was a guy who lit tealights in small dixie cups that spelled out "I (heart) U." Then there were fireworks and some girl got a bouquet of flowers. I think
it was a marriage proposal! Hehe. A romantic setting! :)
We arrived in Beijing at 11PM and took a long "taxi ride" (a Tori Amos
song) back home to Tongzhou (which is a suburb of Beijing). Much like
Folsom is to Downtown Sacramento. The taxi driver complained because it was so far
and he probably wouldn't get any passengers on his way back to Downtown Beijing. LOL.
~`RIP to the 9-11 victims and Addio to Lucenzo Pavarotti~
