Day trip to Tianjin

Tianjin is about a 2 hour drive southeast of Beijing.

Some history:

In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling, and of being engaged in the opium trade. They captured 12 men and imprisoned them. In response, the British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku forts near Tianjin in May 1858. At the end of the first part of the Second Opium War in June of the same year, the Treaties of Tianjin were signed, which opened Tianjin to foreign trade. The treaties were ratified by the Emperor of China in 1860, and Tianjin was formally opened to Great Britain and France, and thus to the outside world. Between 1895 and 1900, Britain and France were joined by Japan, Germany and Russia, and even by countries without Chinese concessions such as Austria-Hungary, Italy and Belgium, in establishing self-contained concessions in Tianjin, each with its own prisons, schools, barracks and hospitals. These nations left many architectural reminders of their rule, notably churches and thousands of villas. Today those villas provide an exotic flavour to Tianjin.

Tianjin has a huge Ferris wheel over the Hai river. It looks like an eye on a bridge. It has a diameter of 110 meters and has 64 gondolas hanging from it. It takes about 28 minutes to go completely around and it is a comfortable ride with a heater inside. It overlooks the river and provides a pretty view of the city. We bought tickets and had fun overlooking the city from up above.

We went on a trip with a bunch Pakistaní men studying to be doctors. They were interesting to talk to and we even witnessed them praying every couple of hours. They were so interested in us. They couldn't even fathom the idea of me being here on my own with 3 kids. They asked where my husband was.

Ancient Culture Street is a place to find handicrafts and taste food. We tried Chinese crepes.

Camilla begged me for the biggest cotton candy we had ever seen and was able to scarf it down in 5 minutes.

The Italian street has 200 Mediterranean-style buildings. It makes you feel like you are walking in a romantic European town. There are also former residences of Chinese celebrities.

There are many European Statues in Tianjin and we had fun looking at them. Connor got all embarrassed because many of them were naked.

We really enjoyed going in this old Starbucks. It was in an ancient building with a round staircase. We were able to go to the top balcony and look out over the town.

The Porcelain house was a neat experience. It is made of French architecture. The walls are built from hundreds of ancient porcelain bottles from the Warlord Era. The red walls are covered with porcelain pieces to depict the famous and colorful paintings of ancient and modern China. It was really neat to see. There was so much detail that went into constructing this house. You can look at the walls and see so many intricate designs.

The Tianjin Binhai Library has an oval opening and it has a spherical multiple-purpose hall. The inside discoing is pretty with a unique arrangement of bookshelves and seats. It is fun to walk around and look at all of the areas and rooms.

Tianjin was a lot of fun and we enjoyed going to a place that wasn't as crowded as Beijing.