07 September 2012 (Day 2):

Today was just the 2^nd day in China but it felt like a survival test to me.

In the morning we went for a briefing conducted by 2 lecturers in Tianjin University’s College of International Education, where we learnt a quick history about Tianjin University, the objectives of the trip and safety precautions. After the briefing, we were delighted to know that we had the rest of the day off to ourselves.

The building we went to in Tianjin University’s old campus

A wall inside the building shown in the previous picture

The title slide of the briefing we had

But before me and my friends could begin exploring Tianjin, we decided to have lunch. We were elated to find 2 familiar fast food joints in the area- McDonalds and KFC. However, it was surprising to note that in the food served in both food joints are different from those served at home.
 

The McDonalds outlet

The KFC outlet

 

 Bubble Tea drink poster at McDonalds

Black and White sesame seed bun hamburgers at McDonalds

 KFC chicken rice

As both stalls were full due to the lunch time crowd, we decided to buy the 3 sets of the “Family Feast” meal and take them back to the hotel room to eat. One curious thing to note about the “Family Feast” is that the meal serves only 3, rather than 4 (which is the number of people a Singapore “Family Feast” can serve). This is most likely caused by China’s “one-child” policy.
 

At the hotel room where we feasted hungrily, we were a little surprised to find that the famous KFC chicken we all loved tasted rather different- it was saltier, soggier and less crunchy. I suppose that like the KFC chicken rice and McDonald’s sesame seed bun hamburgers, the fast food joints changed their products so that they were acceptable to their customers’ taste. However, I still prefer the taste of the KFC chicken in Singapore.

 

After a quick rest, we decided to go to the zoo after noticing it being drawn on the map at the back of the Tianjin University address card that we had. I don’t know how long it really took us to walk there but I do know that it was very, very far. A funny thing that I would like to recount here is that while we were walking to the zoo, we saw a green building across the street with the Chinese words dong wu yuan (literally means “animal park”) on it. We quickly assumed it was the zoo and began wondering how all the animals would be stacked in that tall building. As we walked further down, hoping to find a traffic light that would get us across the road, we were stunned to see another zoo just beside us. It was then we realized that the green building was the subway station! This is a good reminder to read the entire sign properly and not jump to conclusions.

Location of zoo circled on map

The subway station, dong wu yuan zhan (literal translation: animal park stand),
opposite the zoo

The entrance to the actual zoo

For 20 RMB, we could see animals like the lion and chickens (don’t ask). For an additional 10 RMB, we would be able to see more animals such as the crocodiles. I wonder why they have such a way of charging. It’s almost as those animals that can be seen when we pay 30RMB are more prized than the rest. Uninterested, we retraced our steps and went over to the Water Park instead.

The Water Park is really a beautiful place, with a cloudy (almost foggy) sky and colourful flowers; it makes for a cool and comfortable walk in a peaceful environment. Appended below are some pictures I took there.
 

 

After the pleasant walk in the park, we headed to the supermarket to buy some necessities and as we were walking back to the hotel, we saw a steamboat restaurant and decided to eat there. The food was pleasant but I was not used to eating soup without rice. Fortunately, we had mi fen (noodles) to eat with the soup.
 

Ken (on left) and Marilyn tucking into the steamboat
 

After dinner, we felt stuffed and the long walk back to the hotel was ideal for easing the “stuffiness” we felt.

 

 As I end this blog entry, I have to admit that although my legs are tired and aching from all the walking I did today, the weather was cold enough for me to enjoy the exercise (hence I survived from all that walking).
 

 Hopefully tomorrow won’t require me to cross such long distances again.

 

Thanks for reading!
 

Regards,

Marianne

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Author’s note:

Picture of black and white sesame bun hamburgers taken from walkandeat.blogspot.com

Picture of KFC fried chicken rice is from technicalwriting2011.blogspot.com