Back Where I Belong

On 10th June, I took the Air Asia X Flight D7 2613 from Tianjin Binhai International Airport back to my home land in Malaysia.

Keeping The Environment Clean

Bicycles are common sight in China. They not only keep the environment clean, but also get to stay healthy. That's why you see a lot of elderly Chinese at their golden age and still looking strong around the city. I took the opportunity to take a few photos of the local people at work and on the move with their bicycles. This is one of the way I enjoy myself traveling and taking photos by the street side.

Tianjin City, China

Antique Street - Tianjin

ABC Wednesday - 'A' for Antique Street in Tianjin, China.

Tianjin City

Shopping At Ancient Street

It's really a hard time trying to look for some souvenirs to buy back over at the ancient street of Tianjin. I took a few hours shopping for something that is really cheap, good quality, made in China which is worth buying and not easily available back in my own country. In fact everything looks as interesting. And the best part is that they are bargain able ! And if you are lucky, you can get them at an extremely low price.

Anciect Street and The Drum Tower of Tianjin

The Ancient Street and The Drum Tower is quite close to each other. And both are about 2 kilometers walk from my hotel. It's not easy to find them though because of the busy streets and heavy traffics. It's hard to cross the road, even though they have zebra crossing. The vehicles comes from many directions. The drivers are left handed whereas the place I am from are right handed. So the cars, buses, lorries and the bikes comes from the left instead of from the right.
I almost gave up looking for these 2 places as the roads are wide and confusing with too many junctions too. But one thing, this place is worth looking for as they are less crowded and things are sold cheaper here compare to Beijing. There are not many tourist around, so photography and shopping in Tianjin is more fun. But in Tianjin, most of the local shops (besides the mall) closed at about 6pm, including the ancient street.I took many photos over here but I am just confused which one to share it out first. Maybe I will post them later under different categories. At least they will keep me occupy during my free time just before I leave for my next tour to China again in early August. Have fun !

It Also Rain In Tianjin..

The magnetic train ( maglev train) which I took from Beijing to Tianjin was excellent. It arrived right on time as expected. It only take 30 minutes whereas travelling by bus would have taken 90 minutes. And the journey was smooth and comfortable.
I was confused a little the moment I got off the train. I have not done my home work at all on Tianjin. Everyone was rushing and walking faster just as any other station as if they are catching another train. I took my own sweet time to snap some photos around the station. As I have finished snap snap here and there, the place is almost quiet and deserted. So I was sort of lost a little. I just walk and follow my own instinct. The direction and the notice on the wall doesn't help as I have no idea at all where I should go. All I need is to get to the exit or the taxi station.

Walking round and round the station with my trolley bag, passing the same place over and over again, taking the same escalator up and down, asking questions here and there, I finally reached the taxi station at the basement of the station. It's the same place which I have walk past earlier but there weren't any people waiting for the taxi, so I didn't know it was a taxi stand. The moment I get to hop onto the taxi, everything was smooth again. Just show the driver my address and off we go to Tianjin Youth Hostel, my next destination.

When the taxi arrived at the hostel, he pointed to me my 'hotel'. For the moment I thought I made the wrong choice in choosing the hostel again as the outlook of the hostel is not impressive at all. Not the least of what I have expected even though it's just a hostel. To cut it short, all I want to say is never judge a book from it's cover. The guest and staffs of this hostel is much more friendly than the beautiful lodge in Beijing, Peking Youth Hostel. The room rate is RMB80, sharing toilet and they are all very clean. They do provide ordering services for food and the drinks sold are at very reasonable price.

Well, after all check-in is done and some short nap in my room I decided to explore Tianjin and the hostel surrounding just before the sun is down. I didn't get to go very far because it rain as well in Tianjin. My first impression of Tianjin is that it is a developing city with high rise buildings, many are still under construction. The city is very dusty when strong wind blows. And when it rained, it so happen that the place I was at is a trading area where lots of people buy and sell in bulk for wholesale purposes, the water from the upper end starts to drain down along with rubbish everywhere. I knew there must some poor drainage system around. Maybe its due to development in that area. This place must be a flood prone area.

Is this all about Tianjin ? The Chinese guest at the hostel who works as a salesman selling cookware told me Tianjin is a very simple place and not much attraction over here unless I am willing to move further. I thought so. I was worry there is nothing much to see nor do than. How am I going to cope for the next 2 days ? Did I land at the wrong place ?
No, I didn't land at the wrong place. In fact another 2 days is not really enough when you get to know the place much more and meet friendlier people around. And moreover with my camera and a hand phone as music player in hand, they are my best of friends. They sing to me and share my views with me.

One more thing I need to share with my visitors is that, when comes to travelling alone, seeing beautiful scenery is not all to me. I also enjoy meeting people and to get to know the locals and understanding their way of life, do what they does everyday and eat the same kind of food the locals do is as pleasant to me.

To be continue..