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Blogs from Tianjin, China, Asia
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September 12th 2012
My first experience with China came early in my career when I landed the opportunity to oversee a field trial on a Chinese owned and operated platform somewhere in Bohai Bay. I was so excited for this project. Not only had I never been to Asia before, I had just started studying Mandarin a few months earlier, so it would be a great chance to put it to use. I probably prepped for six months in advance; analyzing production data, ordering chemicals and equipment, coordinating dates with the customer and my local team. Finally, all was in order, and I jumped on a plane for Beijing. I remember arriving around midnight and sitting in the backseat of my driver’s car and just soaking everything in. I was in China; this mysterious, Communist party-led, emerging global superpower. ... read more
July 25th 2012
Today's original plan was to start at 8:30 am. However, due to rain (not heavy at all), the outing was delayed at least an hour. We visited Tianjin Cultural Centre. The beautiful music fountain was put on show just for us. Then we visited the Music Hall, 2 art exhibitions and a gift store. We were back on campus for lunch at around 1:30 pm. In the afternoon, some students rehearsed for closing ceremony and some watched Kongfu video. Tomorrow, we'll have breakfast at 7, closing ceremony from 7:30 - 8:30. Then we'll hit the road. All of us are very excited because we are going to the Great Wall tomorrow! This is the third time I'm doing this entry. The internet is very unstable. I lost what I wrote twice because I thought it's not ... read more
July 24th 2012
Our kids are doing a lot of Kongfu now - Morning, evening and at Kongfu class. Now everything is geared to preparation for closing ceremony, which we may not be present. This afternoon we made dumplings. Our students enjoyed it a lot. Adrian (16) I’m having an amazing time at this camp, but it’s only thanks to the people I’ve met here, not the organized events. Today was fun because we actually got to go shopping and leave the campus for half the day. The staff really here care a lot about safety and all, but their limitations and punishments are just borderline retarded. But the people I’ve met here are amazing. I’m closer to them than half of my school friend. There’s just something that gets us close, and I have no clue what it ... read more
July 20th 2012
Yesterday, as everyday, we woke at 6:50 a.m. with the usual wake-up call. We very quickly prepared ourselves for morning Kongfu exercises. These sessions, from run from 7:15 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. are led by teachers from the camp. It’s comical to watch each other try to master this art since we all demonstrate various levels of competency and energy levels at this early hour. Immediately following breakfast we attended our first session which was Chinese Language. Again, various levels of competency are demonstrated by our classmates during these Language sessions. Moving on to more exciting activities, we were also introduced to the ancient art of calligraphy, using ink and brush, and then painting, using only your hand as a brush. Practising the art of holding the calligraphy brush correctly and then working with the ink ... read more
July 19th 2012
We arrived around 8:l0 pm on July 15. The camp site is about 40 KM north of Tianjin city. The first day was relaxing with Mandarin oral skill assessment in the morning and opening ceremony in the afternoon. I was out whole day to pick up a late arriving student at Bejing Airport. On July 17, Language and culture classes started. Our students had oral Mandarin, opera face painting, Chinese fashion history and calligraphy. Yesterday July 18, we went to TianAn Men Square and Forbidden City. The weather was not very hot and cloudy. We had to walk a lot, but our students were in high spirit. We have a few singing boys in our group. They kept singing all day. We had to stop them on our way back because other people needed to rest! ... read more
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June 11th 2011
Yesterday I went on my first train adventure, which can only be preparation for the upcoming train journeys in the months ahead! So we decided to go to Tianjin, I have no idea why since we actually had no idea what was there, we pretty much rocked up to the city and were like, "well, now what?" We got out of the train station and luckily the architecture pretty much jumps out and slaps you in the face. So we went for a wander along the river and took lots of photos. The architecture was really European and really modern in style so it was very interesting. It was really ridiculously hot though so we didn't really make it very far. We then met up with one of Ralph's friends who is studying there and went ... read more
April 27th 2011
We have had a few problems accessing the TravelBlog site lately and they have just upgraded to a new version. I worked in the software industry for years and know how this can cause some excitement. I have finally been able to complete the Tianjin blog while taking a break on our Hong Kong/Macau trip. Tianjin - the city Tianjin is one of the four municipal areas in China that are so big they are like provinces. Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing are the others. It is directly west of Dalian, about an hour by air. You can’t get there directly as the Bohai Sea is in the way. The Tianjin municipality is between Beijing and the sea and historically was the gateway to the Capital. It was the home to many foreign concessions after the Opium ... read more
March 22nd 2011
19 March 2011 Qingdao (pronounced Chengdow) Arrived alongside Qingdao wharf at approximately 7:00am this morning to be greeted by lion dancers (not the Billy Ray Cyrus type as Barrie had thought!) and a Chinese drum and brass band. It is not as cold as it has been, so we were looking forward to going ashore on the German Heritage Tour. Qingdao is still emerging as a tourist destination and is touted as “a dynamic city on the east coast of China’s Shandong Province”. I think they have a long way to go to live up to such a statement as my first impressions were not enhanced during our tour of the city. Everything was shabby verging on the ramshackle and a thin layer of dust blanketed everything including cars, buildings and trees. Every now and then, ... read more
January 23rd 2011
These days, it only takes 120 mins to get from our apartment building to a hotel in Tianjin. Only 30 mins of that is spent on the intercity train - 71% of the time is used up from getting to our house to the 'local' train station. Anyway, all in all, a great excuse for a weekend away! Tianjin presented us with freezing cold weather and a strange mix of China, Europe and antiques. And a Mario castle. After asking random colleagues and friends, we had a Tianjin to-do list. 1. Goubuli baozi This brand is famous in Tianjin. They make baozi and beer. Unfortunately, the baozi were the most expensive we've ever eaten, and frankly, were a disappointment. (1.3 ducks for 1 small serve: yikes!). We're not quite sure what all the fuss was about. ... read more
July 6th 2010
Incheon to Tanggu English below Die Fähre von Südkorea nach China war die einfachste und gemuetlichste Option . Auf der Faehre traf ich Monica und Philip innerhalb weniger Minuten, da wir die Einzigen aus dem Westen waren. Spaeter traffen wir ein paar Koreaner mit denen wir einen schoenen Abend verbracht haben. Bis um Mitternacht haben wir Bier getrunken, chinesisches Barbeque gegessen und die beliebteste koreanische Unterhaltungstätigkeit, Karaoke, genossen. Obwohl die Fähre 25hours dauerte, war es der billigste und bequemste Weg um nach China zu gelangen. The ferry option from South Korea to China was so easy and really classy (may be exaggerating on the latter). I met Monica and Philip straight away. It was quiet easy to figure out that all three of us were back-packing. It was a real laugh to meet some Koreans a ... read more
