Friday, February 22, 2019
Tianjin, China…….City of Tanggu, China
Our ship docked at 6:30am in
the Port of Tianjin. Tianjin is actually an hour and half bus ride down the
highway. Tianjin is the gateway city to Beijing and the Great Wall of
China. Today most of the ship guests are
boarding buses to travel 3 hours into Beijing and another hour and half ride
further to see the Great Wall and the
Forbidden City. They are spending the night there, returning tomorrow after
spending the full day touring the Beijing area.
The temperature today
started out at a crisp 28 degrees. Because of the temps and the distance we
decided to wait until March to visit these two incredible historical sights in
Beijing. After breakfast, Larry and I
took the bus into the town of Tanggu, a half an hour away . Here we went into
the Mall and enjoyed some Starbucks refreshment sharing stories with a retired Australian
educator that we had met in Qingdao, China; Ralph.
After a little lunch we walked the three levels of the mall taking in the sights, sounds, and unusual smells.
After a little lunch we walked the three levels of the mall taking in the sights, sounds, and unusual smells.
We were surprised at the
Western restaurants and stores that were in the mall. The first time we were in
China in 2001, we were directed to a local store that reminded me of the old
Woolworths and Rohr’s Store in downtown Manassas with their old fashioned
displays of merchandise. Today we found a completely modern Westernized facility.
Things in China have changed quite a lot since our visit back then.
There was lots of
entertainment for kids in the mall…… we could imagine our grand nephews Brock and Kellan having a big time with this huge race car track!
The kids loved driving these little cars inside the mall!
A goldfish touching pond.
There were many high end tiny fashion
boutiques with limited displays of merchandise.
An open air shop with
rabbits, gerbils, hamsters and …..
a very unusual South American creature, the totoro…..infamous in Japan as a cartoon character.
a very unusual South American creature, the totoro…..infamous in Japan as a cartoon character.
The smog is a huge problem
in China. Today was no exception. You could smell it and taste it. It was even
visible in the mall. The mall actually had a smoking room….full of smokers. It
seems very strange to me that they have a concern for second hand smoke with
the air pollution so terrible.
We continued to spot some
strange foods to buy….insects, animal hearts, chicken feet, duck heads.
We had a great time looking
around the mall and actually didn’t get back to the ship till close to 5:00pm.
Did we enjoy the day? For SURE!
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