Holiday Inn Riverside Tianjin

... no bridge crossing the river, we grabbed a taxi to take us out to the temple.<br><br>The temple was out in the middle of nowhere, and we asked the taxi to wait for 30 mins but he said it was too long. The entrance fee was only 2rmb and that itself should have been a warning. The temple seemed to be not a tourist attraction but an actual functioning temple where believers come to pray for this or that. As such, it was rather boring, very ...

A couple of months have past since our last little adventure and the throes of a day to day job have enthralled me for the moments. I do feel, however, the often little tug to wander streets I haven't walked and to places I have not yet gazed. And so, for this weekend, the two of us decided to go to the close coastal city of Tanggu to see there what it had to offer. Of ...

... Past security and giggling boys. Along the side of a highway. Through a construction site. I hover for about five minutes to see if anyone minds. The red notebook is indeed magical, they must think me a foreign foreman. Or just not care. Try here, try there, no passage, no ocean. Well, I found the salt flats. Darn close but no cigar. Back to the train. Pause for an apple. Bum a light. It'll cost 2 yuan to try the last stop, also ...

... end included a new feature called the Zhiyuan pagoda, from the top of which yielded some wonderful panoramic views of the city.<br><br>After a visit to the reptile zoo, a round of go-karts and a coffee (instant), we took the bus back to her apartment then grabbed our many things and took the bus back to Jinghai to prepare for Friday work the next day. And no, no day came sooner than Friday. <br>

October 1 I had the day off for the Celebration of Chinese National Day. It was the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. I used this time to explore more of Tianjin. I did a lot of walking and sweating but it was worth it. Enjoy the Photos.<br><br>Blake<br>

... time off so it's not really that much time off, but great for a trip.<br><br>For this trip I traveled to Chengde county to stay with my gal's parents and see the mountain's of China.<br><br>Wednesday night after work I took the bus out to Tianjin city and we went out to dinner and packed for the trip.

... these 2 guys came to our table and spun the noodles in the air to stretch the dough and then they put them in your pot. It was pretty cool. The pics from dinner only include about half the group cause some ditched out because of the rain and they had to ride their bicycles home. <br><br>And yes we had a private room at no extra cost for dinner.<br><br>Blake<br>

I went to dinner at a pretty nice seafood restaurant. I picked the food from aquariums on the main floor of the place and they cook it and bring it to your table which is upstairs. I went with a JV (joint venture) Team member and the Mexican team.<br><br>We had Chicken, Pork, Green beans, 2 kinds of shrimp, fish, and a crab. It only came to about 10 US dollars per person.<br><br>Enjoy thee Pics,<br>Blake<br>

... did not have all the food and bevarage shops opened yet. Even a clearly signed McDonalds was yet to open. Still it was a comfortable wait even if it was four times longer than the actual train journey. Next came our boarding call. This was handled in quite a sensible and sane manner. Unlike the usual mad dash, pushing and barging I have experienced on Chinese trains. We descended down to our platform and we had time to look at and appreciate the train before getting ...

... really sick. i don't know how that happened, but he is awfully congested and snoring like no other (except maybe mom...haha). i have gotten NO sleep and finally got out of bed at 7 to write this. we have to go pay wil's electricity for him this morning and then i think we may just take it easy today. thore's camera isn't reading the card right now, so as soon as we can fix it, i will post pictures. More later from china (still can't believe i'm in freaking china)!!