After our week in Beijing we headed over to Tianjin where we travelled by the tour bus we always take. It was around a 3 hour drive if I am not wrong. We headed straight for the hostels because it was already quite late. We got our meal cards which were allocated to us and pre loaded with money already and this card is used to purchase our meals at their canteen.
Met up with our buddies at their library, where we were briefed and got to know our buddies a little better. They were then assigned to bring us around the school on a tour.
A cage full of doves (?) which is apparently released during graduations but I think I see them flying outside our window every morning in herds.
They actually have quite a variety of food available on campus and had the spring onion oil noodles and it was actually damn good and RMB4 ???? less than SGD1 and its super big portion (totally forgot abt taking photo because it was breakfast and I was way too hungry).
We decided on korean food which is a separate restaurant concept above their convenience store and it is super cheap and damn good eh ??? The meal you see above is less than SGD20 okay. and it was shared between 5, super filling also !!! I mostly had the kimchi stew and it was so darn good in the cold weather.
See the doves (?) flying ??? Lighting here is super on point.
Buddies decided to bring us out for some hotpot because we didn't manage to have any yet and what is a trip to China without hotpot??? Didnt get to go for Hai Di Lao because it was too far out and more to the city centre but we had to take the bus to the hotpot place which our buddies frequent.
Pretty similar condiment set up like Hai Di Lao and for once I tried the sesame sauce. Usually dont add this into my sauce bowl in SG but decided to give it a try and it is damn good ??
Our sauce concoctions.
We got a mushroom soup base as well as Mala of course. Requested for the lowest level of spicyness but the waitress kept trying to psycho us into getting the medium level which we declined and it turns out the low level of spicyness was way too much for us to handle also.
But all the dishes were super good oh my. The mala was super shiok although way too spicy !!! Add it into the sesame sauce and it was good to go.
Our project group and our chinese buddies. Missing thas but bryan came along because he preferred our group as compared to his own. Joke. Super love how our buddies go dutch with regards to payment because we thought we would have to fight over the bill like in Beijing oh my. Heard the other group actually fought with their buddies over the bill. Turns our we paid RMB200 overall I think !!!! Way too cheap.
A mini funfair just outside the dinner place.
We wanted to experience the train system here since we didnt get to in Beijing so we took a longer route and walked quite a distance to this train station.
Trains here actually look pretty new !! Turns out we ended up late from our curfew oops. Explained to the teachers and notified them where we were so all is well.
Fruits on the road side and Darren got bananas which were actually q sweet.
Main purpose in Tianjin is for our industry based project with SSTEC. Which stands for Sino Singapore Tianjin Eco City. It is a joint project between SG and CN.
Went for a briefing about the place and learnt more about the place. Felt like it was very much like SG because finally super clean toilets. Also because I think not alot of people here and quite a few of their staffs are Singaporeans. We had a meal at their staff canteen and ended up sharing a table with a staff which is actually from SG where he moved over here to stay.
Went over to their rooftop garden to check it out but it was way too hot.
I really think this place really reminds me of Singapore. Not only that but they are planning to build like a mini Gardens By the Bay here ??
We then had the choice of going to the hot springs or head back to school and I decided to head for the hot springs.
Super fancy hot springs set up. The toilets were super luxurious looking too! And the chinese are exactly like the koreans in the saunas - full on naked and showering in the open. Had quite a few interesting hot springs like milk and red wine !! Kind of felt a bit lightheaded from the red wine one.
Finally had a really good shower here because the shower area was really clean.
Korean food for dinner and I decided to be daring and try some Korean raw beef which I have never tried before but it didnt taste like what I expected it to. Really chewy and the taste was pretty citrus tasting because of the marinade but at least it was cheap.
Realise I didnt take much photos other than our meals in Tianjin so here is another one. This is actually available at their school canteen and super cheap !!! The fish was like RMB30-50 I think. Meat skewers were 10 for RMB10 i think and super good too !!!
Big bang is actually promoting the tea but the promo runs along with free water and free Big bang merch. Sigh why dont have EXO.
Leg became swollen after the trip to the hot springs and it really swelled up quite a bit ! Initially it did swell but it was like the normal mosquito bite swelling but it really just swelled up to the point my shoes became tight and it swelled all around my ankles.
I was then brought to the school's hospital/clinic thing. Really word to be signing up for consultation in chinese but it was like RMB1 for consultation at the school.
But it really looked very dodgy and old. Kinda like those haunted ones. The consultations were all done upstairs and only 1 doctor available in that gigantic place which made it really like a scene from the horror movies. But there were other students there also so not that scary.
Finished the consultation and couldn't understand half the time due to the medical jargon in chinese and was scolded for wearing jeans and shoes when i should be in flowy attire and slippers instead. Was prescribed a cream for RMB5 and basically I think it is an allergy to the bite and also because I should wash it in cold water and most probably because the hot spring made it worse as well.
Went to change into my polka dress thing and wore slippers before I headed to join the rest and we had our first lecture there! Totally didn't understand half of it because once again, jargon in chinese and can I say how old their computers are??
Alright so check out the swollen leg situation I had (Although I know my legs totally do not look flattering in this angle and just looks fat.) Right leg is the one in trouble and you can totally see the size difference.
Decided to get delivery here for once and we decided on KFC! The portions were really little but super good?? Their chicken tastes different from SG's one eh. Like they have the pizza hut hot and spicy drumlets available and their fried chicken totally taste like Korean fried chicken !!! Super yums. And their egg tarts actually taste better than Sg's one too. I was addicted.
Not sure if I mentioned it but China doesnt actually sell ice at convenience stores?? but also its because they like everything hot/warm instead. Even the soft drinks.
The KFC wasnt enough for us so we also got korean fried chicken (also KFC if u realise) and it was really good too!!
We went to get our meal cards refunded here because we wont be using it anymore and we had deposits in it as well. And we totally got scolded because we needed to fill up this form before getting the refund done.
Came back to all our taobao loots and look at the amount of pokemon keychains. Pokemon Go was still the craze then and everyone tagged along my orders of pokemon keychains for my bros as souvenirs for friends and the amount turned out to be as below.
My side of the table which is really messy (oops).
Ordered KFC again because we didnt want to eat in the canteen and we bought new items to try out! Such as skewers which were really good too!
Had project discussions at night once again with our chinese buddies and alice brought along this rose ice cream and it was pretty yummy!!!
Update on my leg and it grew way bigger. And it was actually really painful to walk!!! Kwan had to carry me back because I was struggling to walk and I felt real bad (oops)
Buddies came over once again and we ordered skewers! which were halal so thas could join us too. We totally over ordered but the meal was fairly affordable still! Everything was really yummy too and because we couldnt finish, we invited everyone to come eat our leftovers.
Headed back to SSTEC where we had to present the slides we have been working on the past few days to management and it was pretty challenging for me because I had to speak chinese the whole time while presenting and really difficult to memorise my script.
After the presentation we went to have our lunch at the convenience store downstairs because there isn't much food available. Got some random cup noodles but it didnt really taste that great but no choice ah.
Our group! Best group in my opinion!!! We were the most talkative group when we first met up for discussions and we were most bonded as compared to other groups. ^___^ wearing slippers in formal because my feet could barely even fit into my formal shoes and it hurt.
Went back to the uni where we had our farewell dinner with our buddies which was in a buffet style!! Tried out this drink which is basically yoghurt and it is served warm.
We then requested to go to a supermarket but the ones outside of school were closed so we headed for the mini one within the school for me to stock up on chips to bring back and definitely the salty milk candy!
Our official last day in Tianjin so a few of the buddies came to send us off before we left the hostel.
We then headed for some tourist areas in Tianjin because we have yet to really explore Tianjin other than the university. Not sure where this place is but it was in like a Italian theme.
We were starving so we strayed from the group when we were given free time to roam the shops and went to find food instead. Saw a queue for this so we just decided to get one too. It is like a pancake which I think is made with green beans? with this dark and salty sauce/paste + youtiao which is like doughsticks. Pretty yummy I would say
A shot at becoming typical tourists while I sat there to rest.
We then headed to their ancient street and first thing I got was this cotton candy! Because it is so insta worthy!!! and RMB10 for such a big fluff!!!
It was such a struggle trying to finish the cotton candy as it was so huge. Ended up throwing quite a bit away because it was getting difficult to finish.
Went around with Kwan and we came across this melted sugar arts so he requested for La Bi Xiao Xin but I dont think it really resembles. But it tasted really good though!!! super crisp.
Saw the others buy this which is abit like honeycomb so I bought loads back!!!! But end up never finish because it is way too sweet!!!
Also bought the niu pi tang for the parents and grandparents to try!
Place for our final meal and it is just right next to macs. It was a rather okay meal because I had Pork liver and it was really good!!!!
Finally reached Beijing Airport after a long drive and luggage did not turn out overweight!!! Wearing slippers and flowy clothes because the feet is still swollen >_< With joy, who I really got a whole lot closer on this trip and she always requests for me to call her unnie HAHAHA
Mandatory shot with the I love Beijing sign at the airport but totally cant even see me.
The transit area of the airport is rather sad as compared to the outside area which is way more bustling and with a whole lot more shops but we didn't really get loads of time outside and instead stayed at Burger King which was our meeting point and I tried their Mala Chicken fries which were actually pretty good!!!
Story time: While we were at the cashier and waiting for our orders, this random guy comes up to order another meal and the cashier then told him to queue up as there was a pretty long line going on. But the guy told her he already ordered and is now ordering extra and I think she was just too lazy to argue and just gave it to him. WOW. what logic.
Food on the plane was rather meh as the rice was all mushy and didnt taste good at all.
HKIA transit where I literally ran to buy my dried mangoes since I missed it the previous flight and managed to get into the store just 2 mins before closing eh!!! Bought like 2 1kg packs.
Went on the plane and got into a total knock out stage before we even departed the airport because it was a red eye flight and woke up halfway and was way too awake to go back to sleep.
A really long post and I am just too lazy to type anymore. Next post will most probably be my KL trip so it is going to be a really long one as well.