Galen's Middle Kingdom

Hello everyone!

So I finally have a chance to share some of the things I've found interesting here. On Friday I flew to Beijing via Vancouver, BC. Due to time zone differences I actually arrived after 15 hours of flights/layovers on Saturday afternoon.

The first thing that hit me getting off the airplane was the air quality... and it hit me like a ton of bricks (sorry for the cliche). I find it difficult to breathe here. The air is thick and muggy, and it leaves a taste in my mouth like powdered concrete and general smogginess. After a while, the sweat on my brow turns into a kind of wax. In the pictures below you will see the haze... it's always hazy and overcast. I have yet to see blue sky since getting here.

Oddly enough, customs was simple. No one even asked me any questions or asked how long I would stay... the entrance officer stamped my passport without one word spoken. I didn't have to fill out a declarations card... and even my entrance card wasn't complete (I didn't list any addresses or contacts...)

My brother fetched me from the airport and his friend drove us the 2.5 hours from Beijing to Tianjin. The next thing I noticed about China is the driving here is much different. Staying in your lane is optional. Stopping at stop lights is optional. Driving on the correct side of the street is optional. The only rule is to get out of the way of things bigger than you. Traffic laws are non-existant, or if they do exist, they are rarely enforced. The only time I have seen police with lights on is when they wish to get around other vehicles.

The third thing I noticed about China is the sheer scale. The cities here are giant, and seemingly go on forever. And they are always building. I have yet to be in a place that I cannot spot cranes and new construction. To give you guys an idea of the scale, one construction project (among countless projects) dwarfs downtown Portland. I will upload a video when I can (youtube is blocked) of a small part of my 1 hour train trip from our neighborhood in Tianjin to downtown Tianjin... you can see the vastness of the construction projects in this city by train. They build a cluster of buildings twice the size of downtown Portland all at once.

And, China is a beer drinker's delight. I can buy a common 24oz bottle of decent tasting beer for around 2.5 yuan. That's about 50 cents. Darker beers like stout and porter are around 5-7 yuan, and import beer from America and Germany seem to run about 15 yuan.

Cigarettes are cheap, too. 10 yuan for regular, 25 yuan for fancy.


Anyway, enough talk... here are some pictures (in absolutely no order):


"The Eye of Tianjin" is a ferris wheel built on top of a highway.


Oddly, a very nice statue just laying on a side street. I'm getting used to odd sights like this.


An old temple top in downtown Tianjin contrasted by the ever-common buildings being erected.


A woman takes a break in a garden in downtown Tianjin.


Naptime in Culture Street.


The old and the birth of more buildings.


Culture Street... touristy, touristy, touristy!


A glass of extremely strong wine served with green beans and boiled peanuts.


Various herbs and mushrooms and a dead snake soak in this wine. It is supposed to be medicinal. It made me sleepy.


I don't know the proper spelling, but this is called "Bowsa." It's very common food. Dough wrapping various fillings...


No balloons allowed on the train!


Waterfront at the Hai River in Tianjin.


My brother's daughter, Mara, and her hired nanny.


Mara is one of the happiest babies I've seen.


A very small sportbike! Is it a Honda? A Ducati? Doubtful. Attempts to counterfit products is rampent here. Cool bike, none the less.


I took my backpack to this alley to have the zipper repaired.


He was happy to help foreigners. It cost me 5 yuan, or about 75 cents.


Mara looks interested in something she sees!


Another lunch in the neighborhood. You fill your dish with whatever vegitables and meat you want, and they boil it up and season it.


I have a feeling that this is a counterfit ZZR600. I have more detailed pictures to post later...


Old men gather in the park to play Chinese Chess. This is a common sight in Tianjin.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures! I am off to catch the lightrail to meet Kevin in the TEDA (Tianjin Economic Development Area) district where he is teaching an evening class.

I will be on a train to Shanghai on Friday... the brand new high speed train. If anyone wants to see any pictures in particular, let me know and I'll see what I can do!

 

I have more pictures and video to share when youtube convenient...

I learned to not gamble with the locals! The rules of the games seem to change frequently, not to mention the language barrier.

Sorry to the cat lovers, I ate some BBQ'd meat that my brother said was likely cat. It was delicious. One thing about the food... the street vendors are all over the place and food is extremely cheap and in my opinion better and fresher than the restaurants. The only good thing restaurants have going for them is the AC.

Pictures of Shanghai and some videos of riding in a taxi and other things coming up in the next few days... I will try to visit the waterfront and also get more construction/architecture photos for you...

Someone asked about military presence here... I have been to see a lot of Tianjin and I haven't seen any military. I do see police from time to time but they are usually just sitting around doing nothing.

Later!

 

Shanghai is so much different than Tianjin. For one, the air quality is much better. I've seen blue sky every day! Shanghai is the economic capitol of the PRC, the streets are much cleaner, the people all have more money here, they dress better, and apparently act snobbish. Lucky I can't understand what they're saying...

The architecture is quite impressive.

The best thing I like about Shanghai is the subway system. It is so easy to navigate just about anywhere you want to go by subway. Sophie, Mara and me have been going all over Shanghai the last few days and we just buy a subway day pass and it gets us anywhere we want to go.

I would recommend Shanghai as a first stop in China... it's more westernized so the shock isn't so extreme.

I still can't get over the beer prices here. And at the supermarket in Shanghai I go to buy it, they ask if I want it opened. Huh? So, I buy a couple beers and walk out of the supermarket into the streets with a beer cracked open and a few more in my pack. A cup of coffee costs five times what a 24oz costs! Weird place...

I haven't been able to get onto youtube for a while so the taxi video and some others I took will have to wait until I get back to Tianjin. My brother has the appropriate proxy there...

So, some pictures. Next stop, Beijing and the Great Wall...


More street vendors!


They set up around dusk...


Serving up fried rice and cold beers...


The waterfront

















A few days ago we went to Century Park. Wow... what a beautiful park!








Sophie and Mara... do they look alike?





At first she was like:




And then she was like:


And, a photoshoot? How many photogs does it take to get the guitar?








Mara, daring some local kids to hop!


Yeah, Shanghai is packed in places...


Some downtown shopping...




And a little alley we found as a great shortcut from the subway to wherever it was we were going:



Night time in the neighborhood:


Standing room only on the subway usually!


Chinese people absolutely love babies. I guess they are rare over here. Especially babies with slantie-eyes and blonde hair...


This building is a hotel... on the bottom is a Ferrari dealership:


More people awing at Mara:


Hey!


She saw a rabbit in the woods:


More city:
















Here's a famous Shanghai dish... fried "bowsa" and I still don't know how to spell it... sorry!



The chefs preparing our lunch:


And yesterday we went to the beach. I can say that was a huge disappointment. First, we had to pay 50 RMB each to enter the stupid place, then it wasn't even a real beach. I couldn't see the sea, and the sand was imported from Hainan province. I guess there isn't really that much beach access in or near Shanghai... for this, I miss the pacNW!







Of course, as always, people obsessing over Mara's Asian face and bright, blonde hair...


And on the way back... I needed a treat, so we got two cafe mocha coffees at a downtown coffee shop. 66 rmb! Do you know how many 24 oz beers that is?!?!?





More to come...