Off we went after breakfast to stop at Nanlishilu for Starbucks and an afternoon snack before heading for the bus.
After our much needed coffee, we headed back on the subway to Qinan on line 2 which is, supposed where the bus leaves from. Qinan is a very central station where there are many bus stops serving a multitude of busses and is located at the south end of Tian 'anmen square, so there is quite a bit of people traffic, not to mention vehicular traffic as well as Red Guard Soldiers.
We have been to this area a few times for different reasons, the first time we just happened upon it walking around Tian 'anmen square on the outside of the square, another time, we had to pass by it to get to a tourist street and yet another time we had to pass by it to get to the Canada party at the Beijing exposition hall where British Columbia had a show and hosted Canada parties every Tuesday and Thursday with free Canadian beer (Chinese beer is only 3.1 % alcohol volume) and Canadian food.
After checking out the various bus stops in the area with no success, we decided to ask at information. The people at the information booth are very helpful and try their best to be of as much help as possible, but as in many other cities around the world, there were differing opinions on where the bus stopped. Off we went to locate the bus. Lori thought she saw one so we watched to see where it went, only to discover that it was the 803 and not the 808.
Our next plan was to sit down on the west side of Tian 'anmen square and see if we could spot the bus. We saw the bus (Nessie we called it) only once and still could not figure out where the bus stop was.
After sitting for a while and watching this adorable baby boy play with his grandmother at the fence by the road, we decided to go shopping.
Shopping in Beijing is very odd in that there are name brand items and stores (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce Gabana, Armani etc...) and right accross the street are the bargain stores where you can offer a price and bargain with them. I find the most effective method is to walk away after a few back and forth sessions. This way you manage to get your price.
One of the best shopping streets in Beijing is Wangfujin, full of discounts, Department Stores and a few malls. The malls are not the best place to shop as the prices are generally fixed.
On our journey, we managed to see a stand outside that was a replica of the Water Cube.
Further up the street, we saw a very interesting sight for Beijing, we happened upon St. Stephens Catholic Church, quite the oddity in China one would assume.
We knew we had to make it an early night so that we could meet David at 8:30 the next morning to go to Tianjin.
On Wednesday we woke up at 4:30/5:00 and got ready and were at Starbucks by 7:00 (we are staying in the far west end of the city and everything is a minimum half hour subway ride away).
Once we were on Line 1, I called David to express my concern that he instructed us to meet him at the second last subway station on Line 5 but the name did not match.
Every time Lori and I have met David, we have always been late, usually because David has chosen a spot that not somewhere we know and is not directly served by a subway station. This time however, we were early, a good half hour early. Luckily, City TV Beijing has the television screens in the subway stations just like CITY TV.
David asked the transit worker where we would catch the bus to Beijing South Railway station so we could take the fast train to Tianjin. After receiving and following the instructions provided, we could not see the bus, so David asked again and we were pointed in another direction. This time it was correct.
Once on the bus, David asked the collector (busses have a driver and a collector), just to confirm, if the bus went to the Beijing South Railway Station The response was that you had to transfer to another bus. So off we went, the route was rather circuitious and seemed to go in a circle before dropping us off at this mad house of a bus station with about 30 different busses and about 1,000 people. However; Dvid managed to lead us directly to the transfer bus and we were on our way to the railway station.
Beijing South Railway Station is a brand new station that is the central point for the fast trains to Tianjin and other trains to some other cities. Once the line is completed, it will also be the home of the fast train to Shanghai.
By this time it was 9:00 am and we went to get our tickets. Even though the trains leave every 15 minutes, the next available train was not until 10:30. So we had a little time to kill.
As they announced our train, you had to queue up and put your ticket into a slot that sucked it through, validated it and ejected it for you securing your assigned seat on the train. The train is made up of 3 classes, Superior Special Class, First Class and Second Class. On the way to Tianjin, we had second class seats, however, these are better than VIA 1 class.
Arrival in Tianjin was a mere 30 minutes after departure with the train traveling at 331 km/hr. The normal ride is almost 2 hours and everything is always on time in China.
Through a friend, David had arranged for someone to meet us at the Tianjin train station and show us around. When we finally met the fellow, we went off to buy our return ticket, we bought a Superior Class ticket back to Beijing for the 5:45 train, which meant that we had a god 6 hours in Tianjin.
The first stop was an amazing and famous restaurant for Tianjin dumplings, the dish of Tianjin, lunch was delicious and so much food. We ended lunch with a bowl of congee after consuming about 10 dumplings each.
David's friend drove us all over Tianjin and stopped on the highway so we could take pictures of the Football (soccer) stadium that was built for the Olympics.
The most interesting part of Tianjin is that is was a colonial port city so a lot of the old buildings are very western style with some Chinese buildings around them.
We also managed to get to the Tianjin Cultural Street, a new build that looks like a traditional Chinese neighbourhood in the city.
All in all, we had a great day and are looking forward to the Summer Palace on Thursday (we will take a taxi LOL).
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