Samuel (in white shorts) chilling out in the Bullet Train (Yes, the
chairs can be rotated around)
The seats in the carriage that we were in
In a few minutes’ time, the train started moving. Apart from the mild
vibrations of the chair, the train ride was incredibly fast (up to 291 km/h)
and incredibly smooth. Half an hour later, we had reached Beijing South Railway
Station.
The speed indication on the sign above the doorway
At this station, Mr Tan bought the tickets for the normal train services
for us. The usage is exactly the same as those ez-link cards we have back home.
We just tap the card on the machine and pass through the gate. However, in
Singapore’s train stations, we don’t have to pass our bags through (another)
scanner nor have our water bottles scanned for any illegal substances.
The card for the train services
(When you reach your intended destination, you will have to slot it
through a machine where it will collect the card and open the gate to you so
that you may leave the station. As such, this ticket can only be used for 1
journey.)
We must tap the cards on the machines here (circled in yellow)
Our first stop was Xidan. From the Beijing South Railway Station, we had
to pass through 4 stops. Not many of us could board the first train that came
because it was packed. Luckily there was enough space for us to squeeze in in
the following train.
At Xidan, we got off and exited the station by means of a tunnel which
was connected to the mall. Since we reached Xidan at 12pm + and had to meet at
3pm, we had plenty of time to shop around. Several of us went up to level 4 as
it sold handphone accessories and lots of fancy trinkets.
Passing through the tunnel that connects the mall to the train station
It was then, that I realized nothing had a price tag. Prices were not
fixed but bargained for. I certainly did not enjoy this kind of thing because
1) I got cheated out of at least 30RMB on my first try, 2) My bargaining skills
are not even there (I haven’t bargained before, come on!) and 3) I’m not
thick-skinned enough to blatantly cut the price. Even though I am STILL vexed
that I was conned, I take heart that I didn’t lose everything. I (sadistically)
console myself that I didn’t lose as much as some of my classmates. A fellow
friend paid 600RMB for 4 sets of earphones (that’s 150RMB each) while another
classmate bought the same headphones for 50RMB each.
As of today, I have gained some experience. The next time I bargain,
I’ll be more aggressive- meaning I’ll bring my sledgehammer, brass knuckles and
machete the next time I go shopping in Xidan- Just joking, I won’t bring those
weapons. A bazooka is more of my idea of aggressive.
Despite my disappointing shopping experience today, there were 2 bright
sides to this whole mall. The first is the wide variety of things that they
have for sale (which are always fun to browse through) and the second, the
food. Despite being rather hot and stuffy in the foodcourt, they had food from
Taiwan, Japan and Korea, giving a much larger range of food to choose from. My
meal for lunch was shredded cake from Taiwan (at least that’s what the banner
of the shop says). I ordered a Sausage and Fried Egg Shredded Cake and truth be
told, the shredded cake looks and tastes like Roti Prata (an Indian bread) with
the filling (in my case, sausage slices, fried egg and lettuce), sweet sauce
and/or chilli sauce rolled up inside.
The stall I bought my lunch from
My Lunch
Even though it looks and sounds rather strange, I must admit it was
DELICIOUS!!! For those of you who’d like to try something new, please give this
one a go- If you can’t come over to Xidan to try this meal, then you could make
it yourself. For 8RMB (the porridge came free but you must ask for it), this is
one meal I will definitely eat again
if I have the chance to come back to China.
By 3pm, we returned to the Xidan Station and purchased a ticket for 2RMB
at the vending machines. It doesn’t matter where your end destination is, be it
just 1 stop down the line or 10, the price is still the same (2RMB). For
further distances, I think this is pretty reasonable.
Our next stop was YongAnLi, which was 6 stops down the line from Xidan.
Once again, majority of us had to wait for the second train because we couldn’t
squeeze into the first train (again).
While walking in YongAnLi, my friends and I noticed that several
international brands were located here. We did browse through some of the shops
but they were still very expensive. At Nike, it was 500RMB (about S$100) for a
bag.
YongAnLi
Famous brands found in YongAnLi
Regrettably, none of my friends nor I bought anything from these branded
shops. Instead, we spent most of our time at a food street. The first thing
that caught our eyes was the yellow banner at the entrance- Xi Wang Zi (translated as Scorpion King).
This shop sold scorpions, chicken hearts, snake meat, sea horses, starfish,
cicadas (at least I think they were cicadas), cocoons and other stuff. I was
alarmed to see the scorpions still wriggling on the sticks they were attached
to. Their stingers had been cut off and the cooks assured us that the scorpions
were safe for eating.
The food street we went to
“Scorpion King”
Some photos of the food sold at the "Scorpion King".
Among all the food on display there, the scorpions were the only ones that were still alive.
Some of the Malay students were very sporting and bought 2 to 3 sticks
of scorpions (each stick has 3 scorpions on it and costs 25RMB) and 4 sticks of
seahorse (there is one small seahorse per stick and it costs 20RMB). I saw the
cooks dip the stick of live scorpions into the deep fryer for a while before removing
it and giving it to the Malay students. Many classmates posed with the sticks
of food but daren’t eat them.
After taking several pictures of the food, the Malay students ate the
scorpions and seahorses. When asked about the taste, the Malays gave their
verdict- The scorpions were salty, oily and crunchy and had the taste of the
spices they had been cooked in, likewise for the seahorses. Some of us, who had
no stomach for this, went to the KFC further down for dinner at 5pm.
Faris (in green shirt) taking a picture of the fried seahorses that he
and Vendra bought
Jin Liang (in white shirt) watches as Vendra eats a scorpion
By the time we finished our dinner, it was time to return to the meeting
point at 6pm (as agreed before we split our ways at YongAnLi). Some classmates
had bought jerseys and such for their friends and family. Though this is none
of my concern, I wonder how some of them will be able to bring back the
staggering amount of gifts that they have bought from this shopping trip and
those in the earlier weeks.
Maybe they’ll have to bring the luggage back like
this…
Or like this…
Or like this… (Take your pick)
I hardly need to mention about the train trip back to Beijing South
Railway Station. Most of us had to take the … you guessed it… second train
because the first train was, once again, crowded.
Once we were at the Beijing South Railway Station, Mr Tan bought our
Bullet Train Tickets and we went up to the Waiting Area. It was scary when the
stewards refused to let us through the gate until we showed our passports,
which were with Mr Tan… and he was at the other end of the room, about to enter
the second gate down to the Boarding Area. We frantically ran over to him,
explaining the need for our passports. To hasten things, some of us helped him
to return the passports to their owners. Once we all had our passports, we
hurried back to the gate where we were supposed to enter and dashed through the
Boarding Area to our assigned carriage.
Fortunately for us, the train hadn’t moved off yet, unlike the one shown
in this picture
Soon, we were back at the Tianjin train station where we took a bus back
to the hotel. After a long while, we finally alighted from the bus and walked
across the road to where the hotel was. We were amused to see our classmates, those
of whom opted to take the taxi back, just arriving outside the hotel.
After such an exhausting day and nearly being trapped in Beijing (which
would have happened had we not retrieved our passports and got on the train in
time), we headed back to our rooms for a long, long, LONG night’s rest. Good
thing that tomorrow is our “Free and Easy” Sunday!
Well, dear reader, that brings me to the end of my blog entry for today.
I hope you have a good night’s rest too!
Best regards,
Marianne
Author’s note:
I apologise for the lack of pictures at the ending half of my blog but
I hope that the clip art and photos make up for it.
