day 7: tian jin and beijing

started the day early again...but i have forgotten what time. we wanted to escape the city congestion. the breakfast at this new hotel was much better ah. there were all kinds of buns, proper butter with bread and better coffee. they even had fried egg! too bad this was the only morning we were to have our breakfast here!!
the trip to tian jin took us 2 hours. basically, the only things to see in tian jin are the cultural and food street. tianjin is famous for its seafood because of its location...but sadly, we did not have a lot of that. i asked my aunt, 'huh? what seafood?' when she told me that. i think i managed to swallow a piece of snail without me knowing it in lunch served there. that piece of 'meat' looked strange but i whack only lah...try new things konon. that night only i realised it was a piece of snail.

another arch or gate. this one is outside cultural stree.

cultural street, you can buy and sell antiques here...provided you know which is the real thing lah. ceramic is also popular here.

entrance to the food market.

jason!!! hahaha..okok...back to the food market. inside the food market. they sell all kinds of food; dried fruits, nuts, biscuits,etc. there is also a mcdonalds here. i bought a very nice pineapple ice-cream here. only RMB1.50. cheap cheap.

jason again!!! he just wanted to be in the photographs. his grin there made him look like hamburger face. haha...dun tell him that ah. before this, to get him to take a photo with me was so difficult ah. now, every photo i took, he also wanted to be in. this was where he pulled himself away from his parents and took my hand. he even pulled me away from my friends! oh, he is strong. maybe it was the last day we were going to spent together already. i am a magnet for children. have to tune the magnet a bit lah...see can attract older guys or not. hahah.

prwns and snails you see at the entrances of all eatiries here. i think i had one of those white snails you see here.

ok, on the way back to beijing, we were brought to the last 'rip' shop! aaah!! but this one was more welcomed than the others lah. here we were brought into a room and we got a free foot massage. they also massaged our shoulders and back. this was done by the academy students. the things they sell here: chinese medicine. they targetted those who came in family. again, i was not bothered and brush aside. what the heck, i just enjoyed the massage lah.

the room we were in.

soak your feet first before in some medicinal broth. it helps to clean the feet.

academy students doing the massage. mine came all the way from hubei to study.

some of the shirts you see in those 'malls'. a lot of polo ralph lauren ah. everyone can wear branded shirts in china!

the last dinner in beijing was mini hot-pot. everyone got a mini hot-pot for their own use. the soup was really bland. i added so much soya sauce. the specialty was mutton wor...so they said lah. but then it was quite tasteless one. however, the sesame sauce provided was good. they also gave chilli oil. i added all into the soup. they gave us chicken fillets, vegetables, meatballs (lousy), eggs and vermicelli. not nice one ah this meal. i only had a little of everything and then couldn't wait to leave the place! it was bloody hot!! no air-cond one ah!!! the restaurants in china really skimped on their electricity ah. one way it is good also lah, save the environment, but at the expense of our comfort loh. actually chinese are quite environmental conscious...ok...dun count the number of cars in the city (there are 3 millions now). you see no rubbish on the streets. rubbish bins are divided into recyclable and non-recyclable sections.

went back to the hotel at about 7+, before eight. another group did not come back with us. this was the shopping group. they still did not get enough of their shopping, so they stayed back at the mall. i went back because i had finished all my money!!! if you think i bought a lot there, think again. i only exchanged RM700 to china. and i used till the last yuan. din buy much thing which i can belanja ppl to eat. feel so bad now.

aunt linhui dropped by the hotel to have a short chat. she was in the area. she asked me if i wanted to go and buy stuff but i declined. i know she would pay for me ah since i have no more money, so we just stayed and chatted. then jason came to my room because he wanted to play with the games in my handphone. his dad dropped him. jason met aunt linhui. linhui said he was cute and adorable too. hehe. then it was packing. squished and pushed. slept at 10p.m.

morning call at 4.30a.m.!!