Greetings from the Yellow Sea, where after a late start (more on that later), we have put China in our rear view mirror and are on our way to Nagasaki, Japan. After yesterday’s long and exhausting day visiting the Forbidden City and Great Wall of China, we were hoping for an easier, low key day today, and that’s exactly what we got. The only downside was that we had an early start, which was a little painful after yesterday’s late night, but tomorrow’s a sea day, so we’ll catch up on our sleep then.
I’ve said previously that we were docked at Tianjin, which I suppose is technically true, but the reality is that there isn’t much around the port, and the city proper is fully an hour’s drive to the west. Somehow everyone on today’s tour managed to make it through Chinese immigration, and our bus was rolling down the almost empty divided highway towards Tianjin by 7:45 am. We did become ensnarled in city traffic when we entered the city, and it was a little after 9:00 when we arrived at our first stop, the Shi Family Grand Courtyard.
The Courtyard, which actually contains several courtyards, is the former residence of a wealthy businessman, Shi Yuanshi. Shi put a good deal of money into creating quite a palace for himself and his family, including things like a large performance theater and an exquisite pond and garden. Today the whole complex is quite a tourist attraction, both because of its style and architecture and because of the displays in many of the rooms. The displays were interesting, with some of them exhibiting period items like beds, carts, and office furniture, while others were dedicated to Chinese history and communist propaganda. I very much enjoyed wandering around the place for over an hour, before climbing back on the bus around 10:30 for the hour long drive to our lunch stop.
Remember that I said yesterday that Tianjin is a really big city, with a population of fifteen million, so it’s not unusual for it to take an hour or even longer to get from one part of the city to another. You might wonder why we didn’t choose a lunch destination that didn’t require a long drive, because there were certainly plenty of closer options, but I’m not complaining, because the food was fantastic, the best we had during our visit to China. Note that I haven’t mentioned the name of the restaurant, and that’s because it was in Chinese with no English subtitles. This was as authentic as a Chinese restaurant could get, and they clearly got it right. I’ll include a photo of the front of the restaurant below, and let me know if you can translate the name.
Stuffed to the gills, I waddled back to the bus to be transported to our final stop of the day, Guwenhua Jie, Tianjin’s Ancient Cultural Street. The street is a pedestrian walkway lined with every imaginable kind of shop, many of which occupy the lower level of architecturally significant buildings. The street runs for more than a quarter of a mile, and is really fun to explore. Admiring the spectacle of it all is probably the main attraction, but shopping runs a close second, and Michele did make one small purchase while we were there. As I said above, it was exactly the kind of relaxed but interesting kind of experience we were hoping for today after yesterday’s epic adventure.
We got back to the ship around 2:30, which was the all aboard deadline, as we were scheduled to sail away at 3:00 in order to reach Nagasaki on time on Wednesday. We needn’t have worried about being back on time, however, as our friendly Chinese immigration officials decided at the last minute that they wanted to examine the ship’s manifest to see if it matched the passports of the passengers and crew, all 2500 or so of us. They matched, of course, but it delayed our departure until 7:00 pm. Fortunately the engineers advised the captain that we have enough fuel on board to sail faster than planned, allowing us to reach Nagasaki on time.
Admittedly I only spent two days here, but my assessment of China is this. Ordinary Chinese are nice people, and are a lot like you and me. Tourism officials work really hard to show China in the best possible light to foreign visitors, and they’re very good at it. Meanwhile, immigration and security officials couldn’t give a damn what we think about them, their tourism officials, or their country. They’re obsessed with security and control, and everything else falls a distant second. If I had to summarize our stay here, I’d say I was excited to come and excited to leave.
Nagasaki awaits on Wednesday, and I’ll be back to let you know how it goes. See you then.
Driving along in seemingly empty land between the port and Tianjin, and suddenly we’d see giant clusters of high rise apartment buildings in the distance.
Outside the entrance to the Shi Family Grand Courtyard.
Lots of colorful buildings outside the entrance to the Courtyard.
Giant sculpture outside the entrance.
The entrance gate to Shi’s Courtyard.
An archway inside the city block that comprises the Courtyard.
A pond and garden inside the Courtyard.
The buildings themselves were very elaborate.
Outside in one of the several courtyards.
Not sure what this was all about, but it was part of the complex.
The insides of the buildings were elaborate too. This is inside the theater, with the stage behind me.
A smaller room in the residential section.
A period bed. Tourists are apparently throwing money on it.
Neither of us can figure out what this is, but I like the photo.
Pretty sure that’s Mao on the wall in this room.
And I know that’s President Xi. Not sure what he’s doing in a place like this, but I guess he can be wherever he wants.
Outside Shi’s Courtyard again. Loved these buildings.
Saw lots of folks riding cycles like this.
Also outside the gate to Shi’s Courtyard.
On our way to lunch. Have you ever seen so many sensors and cameras above the road in a single spot? We saw a lot of this. They’re watching.
Our lunch spot. Can you help me with the name of the restaurant? It was great.
At the Ancient Cultural Street. More than a quarter of a mile long, with several side alleys. Lots of fun to poke around.
Down a side alley.
Another side alley, this one mostly food.
The entrance to one of the shops.
I don’t know what they’re brewing in there, and I didn’t ask to try it and find out.
Another interesting alley on the way out.
A fun day in Tianjin.
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