Wandering around Tianjin

Tianjin Trip

^{#Tianjin, #Travel, #FiveAvenues, #Meals, #Cross - talk, #BinhaiNewArea, #NationalMaritimeMuseum, #ItalianStyleArea, #Sightseeing, #Experience}

Five Avenues
The scenic spots in the urban area of Tianjin, mainly consisting of celebrity former residences, former concession sites, and commercial streets, are concentrated in the city center near Tianjin Station. Basically, one can walk between the scenic spots. Our first stop is the Five Avenues scenic area. On that day, it was drizzling in Tianjin, giving a strong sense of Shanghai.

On the way to the Five Avenues scenic area, there are attractions such as the Porcelain House, Zhang Xueliang's former residence, Eileen Chang's former residence, and many other celebrities' former residences. However, we didn't go in to visit any of them. In the drizzle, the Porcelain House looks like the distant high-rise buildings disappearing into the clouds. We just took a quick look at Zhang Xueliang's former residence and Eileen Chang's former residence.

There is a "Five Avenues History Museum" in the scenic area. The full-price ticket is 30 yuan, and the discounted ticket is 20 yuan. The exhibits in the museum are various items from the Republic of China collected from the old buildings in the Five Avenues, restoring the appearances of various rooms and shops at that time. The chairs in the venue cannot be sat on. The ticket also comes with the "Celebrity Garden", which is the former residence of a "red capitalist". The garden outside is well maintained.

Meal 1
We went to the Tianjin restaurant "Yudelai" recommended by the Zhihu big V "A Bite of Heart" that my companion follows. The portion is really large. With an average of 50 yuan per person, we can eat to our heart's content. The dish "Old Explosive Three Dishes" consists of pork, pork liver, and pork kidney. The "Eight Treasure Tofu" has a whole piece of deep-fried tofu with a crispy skin underneath. I think it is sweet (it feels greasy after eating too much), but my companion can't taste the sweetness. The shrimps inside are so huge that you can't tell the size of this dish from the picture.

Meal 2
We found a "traditional pastry" shop on the roadside. Judging from the price, it seems authentic. We bought a box and brought it back to school. Everyone thought it was good.

Cross-talk
Before coming, we bought tickets for the performance at the Celebrity Tea House (Duolun Road Store) on Damai.com. At that time, there were very few seats available, making us think that the tickets were hard to get. But when we arrived, we found that only 14 tickets had been sold in total. A family even left halfway. In the end, there were only eight audiences left. The cross-talk actors had intense eye contact with us, as if we were in a small class. We didn't even dare to play with our phones.
The performance is called "Cross-talk Gala". There is a host who connects the programs, including an allegro and performances by five pairs of cross-talk actors. After finishing their performances, the actors hurried to other branches for their next shows. The cross-talk was very effective and we were entertained throughout. But there were really many ethical jokes. This store has a shocking二次元-themed decoration, and there are a large number of figurines at the entrance. The reason is unknown.

Meal 3
We tried the mung bean flour jianbing guozi (pancake with fried dough sticks), a specialty of Tianjin. But I didn't like it as much as the Shandong multigrain jianbing guozi.

Binhai New Area
Although Binhai New Area is also in Tianjin, it is very far from the urban area. We first took the high-speed train from Tianjin Station to Binhai Station (only 12 yuan), and then took a taxi to the National Maritime Museum of China (63 yuan).
In the taxi, we could see a large number of colorful containers. I guessed it might be the port. We also saw a large number of waterbirds in a shallow beach with the words "...ecology" nearby. Unfortunately, we couldn't go there.

National Maritime Museum of China
It is located by the sea. It takes more than an hour to get there by bus from the railway station. The ticket is free. You just need to make an online reservation and then swipe your ID card to enter. Personally, I think that if the transportation cost is counted as the ticket price, it is worth it. But my companion didn't agree. The museum is very new and large, with many exhibition halls and rich contents. There are collections from dinosaur fossils and giraffe specimens to Vietnamese blue and white porcelain.

I like the "Today's Ocean" exhibition hall the most, where there are many marine biological specimens. The huge plastinated whale specimen and the 8.3-meter-long giant squid specimen are impressive. The "backyard" of the museum is also very large, with docks, pools, woods, lawns, and white tents. When

I saw a bird and took a picture, I found it was a crested honey buzzard.

After visiting the museum, we were hungry. We planned to take a taxi to Wanda Plaza nearby to eat something and then see the seaside sunset and take pictures of aircraft carriers and waterbirds. At the roadside, we were refused by taxi drivers who said they were waiting for big orders from the museum to the railway station. A warm-hearted taxi driver came and said that Wanda Plaza was newly built with few people and not much to eat. He suggested taking us to see the aircraft carrier since we wanted to.

The driver said that the developer of the aircraft carrier park surrounded the coastline around the aircraft carrier with iron sheets to collect ticket money. This year on May Day, 10,000 people paid 220 yuan to see the aircraft carrier which is actually just an empty shell. But he knew a place where there was a gap in the iron sheet wall and we could see the aircraft carrier.

So he took us to a wasteland at the end of a section of expressway. Through the barbed wire between the iron sheet wall and the red brick wall, we could see the aircraft carrier. Originally, we wanted to explore the seaside further, but it was difficult to get a taxi here. Since we were very hungry, we asked the driver to take us back to Binhai Station. The journey from the museum to the aircraft carrier and then to Binhai Station cost 134 yuan.

At Binhai Station, we found there was still some time before the nearest train. There was also a Baolong Plaza nearby. We wanted to find something to eat there but found most shops were closed and it was like an empty shell. Finally, we decided to take the high-speed train back to the city center to eat. Binhai Station looks like a big turtle shell.

Meal 4
We originally found a Tianjin restaurant on Dianping but it was closed when we arrived. Just then, a barbecue restaurant on the road emitted an enticing aroma, so we went to eat barbecue.

The owner of the barbecue restaurant is a bald strong man in black clothes who chats loudly with customers at the door. When we sat down at an empty table that hadn't been fully cleaned up, the boss shouted, "Don't rush!" He was afraid that we would get splashed when he was cleaning. After the solid waste was cleaned up and we sat down again, the boss said, "Don't rush!" again. When I took out Dianping and tried to ask about the set meal, he still said, "Don't rush!" We had to sit obediently, feeling at a loss like high school students in their first class at college. The boss said that the waiters in their store had resigned, so the store was very busy.

During the barbecue, the boss corrected our way of eating meat from time to time, making us feel guilty for our ignorance. But he was too busy to take care of all the steps, so we often had to figure out what to do next on our own. The meat was delicious and the boss was enthusiastic. When we finally left the barbecue restaurant, it felt like we had just graduated. This barbecue restaurant is "Zhishang Barbecue (Heping Road Store)". After the meal, we took a walk along the Haihe River. The night view was beautiful, and there were people setting off fireworks. Near Jinwan Square, there was an artistic atmosphere with people singing, selling coffee, and cocktails. Across the Haihe River, we could see Tianjin Station.

Meal 5
We had another meal of Tianjin cuisine at "Sanheyi" (a halal restaurant). We had black garlic beef cubes and Du mianjin. The black garlic beef cubes are sweet, a bit like Yue's beef cubes. The meat cubes have a crispy exterior and juicy interior. I like it very much. Du mianjin has a relatively light taste with a hint of star anise in the thickening. I don't appreciate it very much.

Meal 6
At the entrance of "Sanheyi", there is a shop selling duck oil buns. The buns cost three yuan each. There was a long line of old people queuing up (and buying a dozen or so each). Some even argued because of cutting in line, making us think it must be very delicious. However, I didn't find it better than ordinary pork buns. It's a pity.

Italian Style Area
The last stop of our trip is the Italian Style Area. In the past, it was the Italian concession, so there are many Italian-style buildings. I am not very cultured and can't see the differences between these houses. I just think they all look like cultural relics (in the sense of being in disrepair).
We visited a Dunhuang mural exhibition near the Italian Style Area. The exhibited paintings are copies of Dunhuang murals painted on mud and straw boards with the same materials as the original murals. At the entrance of the exhibition, we saw the roll-up banner of the "Italian International Fragrance Exhibition". Based on the principle that this exhibition can't be seen through the screen, we decided to take a look. According to the official account of the Italian Style Area, this exhibition started on May 1 and will last for a month.

We walked to "No. 443, Shengli Road" and found an Italian-style small building that looked like a cultural relic. Many tourists took pictures of it, but the door was closed. Through the thick dust on the glass, we could see white curtains inside like a cave of spider webs and some promotional materials that we couldn't see clearly. There was a sign related to the "Italian International Fragrance Exhibition" at the entrance, with an arrow pointing elsewhere. The security guards around didn't know anything about this activity.

Finally, we had to admit that incomprehension is the main theme of life. Of course, in the Italian Style Area, we could also enjoy the fountain in Marco Polo Square. There were many elderly tourist groups, and it was very lively. Nearby, a "Dadi Cinema" impressed us. Everything about it seemed faded like a cultural relic. The door was tightly closed. Only the four characters "Dadi Cinema" were still bright red. This reminded me of the famous scene in "Schindler's List" (I haven't watched this movie. I know this scene from movie reviews).

Conclusion
After seeing the Italian Style Area, we ended this aimless trip to Tianjin. The O(1) interfaces of the three lines at Tianjin Station and Tianjin Station subway are really impressive, giving a chaotic yet efficient shock like an ant hole. If you have read this entire travelogue, maybe you will feel that your journey on the Internet this time is also completely aimless.