Concessions

Admittedly, my camera takes crap photos, but the prices here for a camera are about 150-200% of what US prices are, so I will wait for a better camera. I took a concession tour of Tianjin, which was a tour through the French, Italian, Austro-Hungarian, Japanese, German and British concessions. The photo depicted is obviously not one of the concessions. We ended at the Hongkong Club, which is (according to the guide) the largest traditional Chinese stage in China. He spoke for about 15 minutes on the intricacies of the decorations which you can't make out, but I thought it was cool. Interestingly enough, Tianjin had the most concessions in China.

Cool globes!

It's hard to blog when you're out doing, so I'm catching up before the office goes to play badminton (a weekly thing). Anyways, I have no idea what these things are called, but it was really cool to see this guy paint them. It normally takes him 2-3 days to finish one, and he carefully paints through a little hole in the base of the ball. He has quite a collection of themes and colours and he was also located in the Gulou (Old City) area.

What a Zoo!

Attached to the Water Park is the Tianjin Zoo and a small amusement park with a Ferris Wheel and bungee jumping. One of the cars fell off the Ferris Wheel some months ago, killing the occupants and an expat had a malfunction with the bungee cord, which ended his life, so visitors were reserved to the smaller rides. When I saw the kids area, I looked around and not a soul was in sight. The only movement was caused by the wind blowing rubbish around and I immediately recalled a scene in Stephen King's "It." I was just waiting to stumble across the clown who was drinking blood out of cocoons. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, you will have no clue what I'm talking about.

Water Park

Not far from where I am staying is the "Water Park," which boasts a full-day's activities. The park itself can take almost a full day to walk around and in the center is a large tower, which I climbed up and took a few shots. It's a pretty cool lake and there are often activities around holidays here.

Exemplary construction

I was standing outside a building one day and thought this was a pretty cool wall...until I checked out the other side. Just think, an outdoor stage prop!

One billion

Can you imagine one billion? It was constructed from broken pieces of pottery/plates, over one billion in total. This building, called "China House," is made from China made in China, in China!

Refreshing swim

There's nothing like a swim to refresh you on a hot summer day, unless the swim is in a highly-polluted river which runs through the middle of a city of ten million people. The Hai River has been the dumping ground for raw sewage and industry use for decades and I truly believe the people swimming are completely insane. When asked, the focus for swimming is for good health. I suppose the good health comes from the barrage of bacteria for normal flora.

Encapsulating China in a photo

In the foreground is a sculpture of Chinese strife against the Japanese, behind that, a crumbling building, and behind that, high-end residential buildings being erected. The site I was standing was the northern boundary of the former Japanese concession. I am consistently amused at how non-sequitur things are here. This will eventually be a massive mixed-use development.

Gulou

Although much of Tianjin's "Old City" has been destroyed from various reasons, a shiny new Gulou has been erected to appease tourists, both domestic and foreign. This lively area hosts all sorts of activities and lots of opportunities to haggle prices with local shop owners.

Tianjin Eco-city

This is the site of the future Tianjin Eco-city, a 30 square km development near Dongjiang Port. The lake water is polluted, the land is salinated, and the nearby river contains contaminants from chemical and paper plants upstream. Just imagine, in 10 years, this will be the destination for eco-tourists across the world. It's actually an interesting development and you can check it out here.

Fancy eatin'

I took the Canadians I met at the 4th of July party and a couple of my other friends out to one of the best places to eat in Tianjin-the back alley of Bar Street. Here, you will find a funnily-dressed guy selling grilled kabobs off the back of his bike. As you can see in the photo, you can pass time by playing pool on the outdoor pool table in the background. The amenities are the best, though...foot stools to sit on and tables which look they belong in a kindergarten classroom positioned on the side of the street. I will have to capture that on film to share later, but this IS one of my favourite places to eat thus far, seriously!

Tianjin Museum

The Tianjin Museum houses some interesting historical artifacts which were sourced from the area. Behind the museum is Tianjin City Tower and Sommerset Serviced Apartments which I have discussed earlier. Half of the top floor of the museum is dedicated to the atrocities the Japanese inflicted on the Tianjin people which remains a constant reminder to hate Japan. By the way, the museum (which from above looks like a swan) was designed by Shin Takamatsu, a Japanese architecture firm.

This image is not Photoshopped!

For those of you who didn't know...Photoshop is no longer just a noun, it is also a verb. Last Sunday was an absolutely fabulous day in that I could see clouds and blue sky! I relish this opportunity mainly because I saw more sunshine in Seattle in the middle of winter than the past month. So what did I do on such a beautiful day? That's right, I went to a museum.

More Fireworks

Any celebration is not complete without copious amounts of fireworks. AmCham did a fabulous job on the fireworks display and that's what everyone was talking about for days after.

More 4th of July

I forgot to mention Ezikiel, a Mexican expat who is a Tequila distributor. Actually, I couldn't figure out how to put two photos on one blog post.

4th of July

Of course we celebrate American independence in China...what were you thinking? Pictured on the left is the American Chamber of Commerce 4th of July Celebration. Let's count how many people in the photo look like they may have originated in the US...don't count the guy standing in the middle of the photo with a grey shirt on. He's Scottish. By the way, the MCs were Canadian. The band was Filipino and the Venue was called Chateaus Margaux. How much more American can you get than that? I did get the band to play "Sweet Home Alabama" and they did a damn good job. I think I was the only one holding my lighter up with the flame on high, though.

Sky View

Last Friday was relatively clear, so I took some shots of the city from out office. We are located on the 35th Floor of the Exchange, so we get a good view of the city. The road which runs up the middle of the photo was the dividing line in between the French and Japanese Concession back in the day. If you follow that road up, you will see the white building with columns across the Hai River. That is the new Tianjin Train Station which will boast a super high-speed train from Tianjin to Beijing in August of this year.

Local flavour

Lay's has figured out how to appeal to local tastes. I went to the supermarket the other day and saw such savoury flavours as "Kim Chee" and "Pepper Steak" and "BBQ Pork Ribs." I kept looking for the "Chicken Feet" flavour, but I guess they haven't gotten the cartilage crunch just right yet.

Not up for the Saloon?

If you are in need of a hair cut and don't want to stop by the dodgy Attractive Saloon as I wrote about in an earlier post, stop by one of the local street barbers who crop up on the weekends. Just be sure to have a hepatitis and tetanus vaccination.

New Basement Sparks Public Interest

When anything opens here in China, it is celebrated with lots of fireworks. The basement of The Exchange Tower (the building in which I work) reopened its basement after a remodel with such fanfare. A crowd gathered outside and I positioned myself inside the foyer to save my eardrums somewhat.