Tianjin Trip
On 5 May 2009, we visited Tianjin via the Beijing-Tianjin Train Link. We woke up at 6am to make our way to Beijing South Railway Station, which was the only station offering the train service. We changed 2 subways, 2 buses, and took a shuttle bus to finally arrive at the destination. The South Station left us pretty awed. It looked like an airport reception area, with posh designs and a huge resting area in the centre of the main hall. The tickets were selling like hot soup; after much squeezing, we got hold of tickets to a train that is scheduled to leave Beijing 2 hours later. At 1030am, we caught our first glimpse of the fastest conventional train in Asia. It was a wonderful feeling that instantly justified the 120 yuan we spent on the tickets. The seats were as wide as a SIA First Class seat, and the compartments were surprisingly spacious for China. The top speed of the train was 331km/h. We were enjoying the train so much that when we reached
Tianjin, we complained that the train was too fast – we simply wanted to spend more time on the train. For the rest of the day, we travelled across the city by foot and by bus. Places that we visited include 鼓楼,the Tianjin Olympic Grounds, the 天塔, 天津大学 and 金街.
The trip to Tianjin was a really good one, tiring but enriching. After 5 weeks of Beijing, we really need a change in scenery and Tianjin seems to be an ideal place because of its geography proximity. We toyed with the idea of going to Shanghai maybe even somewhere further like Guilin, but settled on Tianjin in the end. In comparison with Beijing, Tianjin was not as developed as Beijing and its transport system is still in an infantile stage. Even though Tianjin was not as developed, Tianjin has its own unique culture and experience to offer. The鼓楼 we went to showcase the history of Tianjin development. From the exhibition, we managed to catch a glimpse of the rich history of Tianjin and can now fully appreciate the efforts poured in by the Tianjin local authority into the building of Tianjin city.
Other than that, the Italian street in Tianjin also offers an eye-opening experience. The forces of globalization have come to create an Italian street in the midst of China. The Italian street was not only filled with Italian foods, architecture, it also offers many western music and culture along the street. The day we went, there is even a music show there featuring western classical music. From the street, the contrast between the Western architecture, Chinese architecture and modern buildings, brings lots of thoughts and brings our mind through a myriad of different culture and their history. The Tianjin
University was truly an amazing place. It was not part of our plan to visit the Tianjin University and it was purely luck that we chanced upon it while walking and decided to take a detour. In comparison with Beijing University which is very small, and Qing Hua University, the Tianjin University offers better facilities. However, of course, both Beijing University and Qing HuaUniversity can offer better education and has higher standard of student quality. The visit to TianjinUniversity brings back thoughts about Beijing University, Qing Hua University and Melbourne University (we visited it a short time before coming to Beijing). We felt that Melbourne University has a very different atmosphere – people partied around the field in the break, a strong contrast with Qing Hua University where students filled up the classroom studying on a Sunday afternoon. Asian education systems seemed to be very distinct from the Western one; characterized by lots of efforts from students. Efficiency and effectiveness remains a doubt. To end off, it is really a good experience travelling with friends to a place far from Beijing, planning and executing your own travel plan.
Done by: Lit Xian and Dee Zhen.