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I arrived in Beijing at about 2 in the afternoon. As this was my second visit, I felt a certain comfortable familiarity as I went about my business in the airport.

China 2001 - Part One: Beijing & Tianjin

Dougburnett
2003-11-23 19:44:22

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wheels that lit up.

Tianjin, Monday, September 3

Before I left the hotel in the morning I asked the travel desk to get me a train ticket to Beidaihe - I wanted to move on the next morning. They said there would be a 10-Yuan service charge. After seeing the long, confusing lines at the Beijing ticket office, I figured it was money well spent.

I then headed out to visit the Ancient Culture Street. It's a pedestrian-only area lined with restored buildings that house tourist shops selling kites, paintbrushes and all manner of Chinese knickknacks. Although completely commercial, it was still fun to walk along and look at the goods and the people buying them. I bought a couple of things myself: a large batik of a phoenix and a small crystal world globe with the countries written in Chinese.

I continued walking to the end of the street and then decided to stop at a nearby KFC for a drink. I have found that American fast food places are convenient rest stops in China. As I was writing in my journal, a young woman came up and said "Excuse me, may I interrupt you?" She then went on to tell me that she was a university student and was teaching a middle school mathematics class. When she found out I was from America she said her brother was studying medicine there. I asked her where and was surprised when she told me the University of Michigan - that's in Ann Arbor, my hometown.

Before long she rushed off to teach her class and I headed back to my hotel to drop off the stuff I had bought. I also asked about my ticket - "Not ready yet, later," they said. I headed back to the downtown area again. There is a famous steam bun restaurant nearby that I had read about. I love steam buns and was looking forward to giving it a try.

When I got there, much to my disappointment, it was closed. Well, not exactly closed. There were waitresses at the door, but they weren't letting anyone in. It wasn't clear why - they were just pointing to a large sign in Chinese. Maybe it said there was a private party. Anyway, the results were clear: no steamed buns for lunch.

The rest of the afternoon was almost a complete loss - after lunch I took a long nap. I lay around until I became completely bored and finally dragged myself down to the lobby to check on my ticket, "Not ready yet, after 5:00." After that I went for another walk - first toward the railroad station and then back to the downtown area. When I came back just before dark my ticket had finally arrived.

Thinking back I wondered about my inactivity. While Tianjin wasn't exactly the most exciting place I have ever visited, it wasn't that bad. Instead, I think I was feeling the delayed effect of my international travel. This was the first time since I had arrived that I had had a chance to slow down.

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