Xiyue Hotel Tianjin

... place in the HSK singing competition at Nankai as the only Western competitor. In addition, I’m learning how to cook my favorite Chinese dishes so I can go home and teach my aunt, and I bought bananas for just over 6rmb today! I really feel my Chinese is advancing, especially listening comprehension and writing. I’m confident I will at least be conversational by the time I get back, and I’m already pondering ways to maintain my proficiency.

... no bridge crossing the river, we grabbed a taxi to take us out to the temple.

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 ...

Early on the day of the 7th, we went to the main intersection close-by with all our things to grab the long distance bus to Tianjin city. The drive was long and more or less uneventful - the drivers played a couple Jackie Chan movies and a couple Jet Li movies to keep us occupied.

We were, as expected, molested upon our arrival at the bus station. Many cries of 'taxi', us responding with ...

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.

Blake

... time off so it's not really that much time off, but great for a trip.

For this trip I traveled to Chengde county to stay with my gal's parents and see the mountain's of China.

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.

And yes we had a private room at no extra cost for dinner.

Blake

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.

We had Chicken, Pork, Green beans, 2 kinds of shrimp, fish, and a crab. It only came to about 10 US dollars per person.

Enjoy thee Pics,
Blake

... was a nice place to just stroll around and look at, even if it might not have been the most genuine representation of Old China! The Antique Market (which I'm not 100% sure I actually found, since where I was was pretty small... although that could just be because no one was out because today was freeezing!) had some neat things too, although I wasn't in any sort of position to judge based on antique quality... just what I thought was ...