China - Beijing, Tianjin

12th November 2015

First time going for a business trip alone!

Took a taxi to airport early in the morning and it was quite freaky that the taxi screen displayed ZQ's name instead of mine when I used my phone number to book it?! Until now I still can't fathom why that happened.

Arrived at Beijing airport in the afternoon, and was welcomed by this hazy sky. I heard that the weather just started deteriorating a few days prior to this, and it was supposed to get better in the next 2 days (but I don't think it did haha).

The taxi driver didn't know where my hotel was, so he dropped me off somewhere along the road and I walked to and fro for 10 minutes trying to finding the hotel but couldn't!!! I was looking at Google maps and the hotel was supposed to be right there, but I just couldn't see it. In the end I found it behind some ulu gates, and the hotel didn't even have a proper big signage that could be seen from afar.

Caught this on the taxi. Some shopping centres that looked very happening. 

I stayed one night at Beijing so that I could conduct training the next morning. I booked a big room at the hotel (with 2 beds for some reason), but I was quite disappointed because there was a sex toy shop right outside its gates and it looked nothing like a 4-star hotel that it claimed to be. Fortunately it was only one night! The only plus point was that it was located at 三里屯, which is in Beijing's 三环 where many offices were located at. 三里屯 is also known for its night life, so I guess that was why there were so many sex toy shops nearby! Kind of made my hotel seem like Hotel 81 lol.

There was a 海底捞 right behind the hotel! It smelled so nice but I didn't dare to go in and eat steamboat alone so... I settled for this local franchise called 西部马华 that served stuff like noodle and 小菜. Most importantly, I saw a guy BBQing 羊肉串 right outside, so I decided immediately that this would be my dinner :P

I got a noodle set that cost only CNY 19. In addition, I ordered 2 big sticks of 羊肉串 which cost CNY 12 each. LOL. So greedy :P But so yummy. No regrets!

Walked around for a few minutes after dinner and got myself 2 big mandarin oranges before heading back to the hotel.

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13th November 2015

It was quite cold in the morning, about 10-12 degrees. I didn't get any breakfast because the hotel breakfast was ridiculously expensive (I think about S$30?) so I just had an orange to fill up my stomach before going to our partner's office for training. It took about 3 hours and we only went out for lunch at 1pm.

Guess what they treated me? 西部马华 again! Haha! Guess I chose the correct thing to eat last night. They ordered noodle, 羊排 which were super nice with a perfect mix of fat and lean meat, and also 9 sticks of the smaller 羊肉串s which cost CNY 5 each.

Their Beijing office is a lot smaller than Shenzhen main office as it only housed about 10 salespersons. I discovered that every office in China has this 茶具 which everyone seemed to know how to use except me lol. Feels zen.

Interesting building right opposite. And look at that haze...

After lunch, I initially booked a high speed train (高铁) to Tianjin at 4pm and the journey would only take about 40 minutes. However, the girl who was accompanying me around said that the salespersons were planning to drive to Tianjin later and the journey was 2 hours but we could save the time to travel to the train station which was about 1 hour, so I agreed to take car with them instead.

She brought me to nearby shopping malls to take a look. The most famous one was called 世贸天梯, which boasts a huge overhead screen that would light up when the sky turns dark. Apparently it is a popular dating spot as you could dedicate messages to your friends/partners via sms and they would be displayed on the screen!

The screen was dark during the day.

We decided to settle down at a cafe nearby as it was quite chilly outside. It was called Esquires Coffee, and I was told that the White Chocolate drink was a New Zealand recipe. Tasted really nice! Quite different from the usual brown hot chocolate, somewhat sweeter and milkier. The crepe was really tasty too, not overly sweet.

We left the cafe at about 4pm and headed back to office to leave with the others for Tianjin. But I got quite pissed off because they kept delaying and we only left after 5pm. I actually wanted to meet up with Yenu as he is studying in Tianjin, but obviously we were too late for that. I only reached at about 8pm and had a little difficulty locating the hotel, because it was a boutique hotel located inside one of the condominiums by the 海河 (Tianjin's 母亲河). Fortunately, the nice lady managing the hotel came out to fetch me when I called.

I loved the room so much! I stayed at Level 15 and there was floor heating, so the moment I entered the room, it was already warm and cozy. The room was really big as well.

The hotel was located right beside St Regis, so it was super convenient for me. The view was super nice as well from the window.

After I unpacked and changed into warmer clothes, I went out to find some food. It was already 9+pm and lot of shops were closed. Fortunately there was a humongous shopping centre called Plaza 66 恒隆广场 right across the road, and I found a bar called 蓝蛙 which was relatively affordable. The rest of the restaurants that were still open were super expensive.

Ordered a lasagna and it was very authentic! It was a bit pricey at CNY 98. The service was excellent though, as the waitresses were the only few people who actually had a smile on their faces out of so many restaurants I had visited recently.

I also especially loved some of the shops inside cos they were so cute!

I should have bought one of these luggage!! Totally regret now cos my luggage is spoilt.

Interesting name eh?

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14th November 2015

It was another hazy day. We had sales event the entire day in St Regis. During lunch they brought me to eat 北京烤鸭 at the restaurant on the 2nd floor. Apparently it's the same chain as Tunglok, so if you wish, you could go try it out at Tunglok!

Our duck! They crazily ordered an entire duck for the 2 of us.

He looked so frustrated while cutting the duck.

They had a mix of spinach 皮 and normal white 皮, plus a large variety of sauces!

This is the first cut. Head and neck. To be eaten with blueberry sauce and 跳跳糖 and it melts in your mouth!

This is the second cut which was supposed to be dipped in their in-house special mustard sauce. I really liked this sauce.

The third cut, which consisted of thicker meat with less skin. To be eaten with normal 大酱 and 大葱, but they also creatively came up with another combination of 山楂 and onions! I have to say the 山楂 + onion combination was my favourite!

The rest of the duck was made into a soup that was so tasty we drank a few bowls of it each!

I also added on this dish which was basically 凉拌腰花. Super tasty!!! Strongly recommended. 

Somehow I still felt quite sick after eating a fair share of the Peking duck. I guess it's just not meant to be shared among only 2 people haha! It would be good for you to just try 2 pieces of each cut to get the best out of it. It starts getting too greasy when you eat a lot.

Anyway, it was quite sad that not many attended our event despite having over 30 registrations. In the morning due to a lousy crowd, we did not do a presentation. Only did it in the afternoon. One of the ladies who attended said that my presentation was very good :D She said it was very clear and she could understand perfectly. Yay! :P

After the event I took a cab to meet Yenu at this place called 阳光100 which housed a Korean community. There were numerous famous Korean restaurants in the area.

We ate so much! For only less than CNY 200! Super worth it and so tasty :P

Got back to my hotel area after dinner and walked around the streets behind Plaza 66.

I thought the ambiance here was really great. Almost felt like Europe. Hahaha.

Oh yeah, they gave me this humongous 麻花 measuring maybe about 50cm long! 麻花 is a Tianjin specialty, so if you visit, remember to get some! Of course they have smaller sized ones so I think those are more practical if you are buying lol.

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15th November 2015

I had one more day at Tianjin as I was catching a midnight flight in Beijing on the 16th. I decided to visit some of the tourist spots located along the 海河 since I didn't have anything to do. I initially wanted to visit 长城 @ 黄崖关 but it was a 2-hour ride away (by train then coach) and I didn't know if it was safe for me to go alone, so I dropped that idea.

My route, beginning from St Regis, passed by 意大利风情街 first, then 天津古文化街 (津门故里), and lastly to Tianjin Eye. It's super easy, just follow the river in the north west direction :P

I really enjoyed the walk along the river as the weather was so cool. My favourite autumn :)

It took about half an hour to reach the 意大利风情街. I came across at least 5 couples doing their pre-wedding shots there haha! But the haze was so bad I don't think the photos turned out lol.

I roamed around for 10 minutes trying to find some food, but I was way too hungry and didn't spot anything really attractive, so I ended up turning back to Pizzahut which was the first thing I saw when I had arrived. Got myself a pasta and a soup. And trying to keep the costs low lol.

I think I'm getting used to eating alone. LOL. But only overseas where no one knows me hahaha. It's so awkward I don't understand why some people enjoy eating alone??

I left the area at about 3pm towards 津门故里. Along the riverbank there were super pretty trees that lined the pavement!

Crossed this bridge to arrive at 津门故里. The building on the right looks like a mini version of Burj Al Arab LOL

老孙来做客 hahaha

津门故里 looked pretty nice. Reminds me of 王府井, except that there isn't so much food here. Most of the shops were selling traditional goodies, like 玉, 景泰蓝, etc.

I got hassled by 2 fortune tellers along the way. First was a woman who followed me for at least 300m, and kept telling me I had a special 面相 and talked about a lot of stuff which I didn't really hear haahaha. Then after she finally left, another guy started asking me to try. And finally after he left, I thought they were gone, but the woman was apparently still following me or something and she suddenly appeared and started mumbling again -.-

So many of these everywhere! 葫芦 signifies 吉祥、和睦、财富 etc.

Real pearls out of their shells! First time seeing this 

I quickly left the place after the whole fortune telling thing, and headed for the Tianjin Eye! I was only halfway there though!! It was about another 3-4km away T.T And the route required a detour because a section of the river wasn't linked.

In the end I was tired and it was a bit late, so I decided to just see it from afar lol! I stopped at the 金钢桥, and grabbed some photos before turning back to my hotel.

Too hazy for a good shot, but it's quite interesting that the Ferris wheel is built across a bridge.

As I walked back to my hotel, the sky was turning dark and my phone was running out of battery, so I tried to walk fast and save some time for dinner before heading for the train station.

I went to a supermarket to get some snacks and got a box of spicy tofu at the small stall below. Then I came across Macs and decided to get some wings :P Had a quick dinner back in my room and checked out at 6.30pm. I think I paid about CNY 60 / 2 hours for late check-out.

The uncle at the reception told me the train station was super nearby and it was just a 5 min walk away. So I followed his instructions and walked, but it was so not 5 min!!! I think I took 15 min, plus I had a huge luggage, so I think I should have just taken taxi...

Last shot of Tianjin before leaving.

I almost missed my train, because there was such a long queue into the station after I collected my ticket. I literally ran to the platform (which happened to be one of the furthest) and was the last person to board! :O

The train ticket was only CNY 54.50 and got me to Beijing comfortably. I didn't even bother to go and find my allocated seat, so just sat at a random empty one. Smooth ride on taxi to the airport and arrived back in Singapore at 6am on Monday morning.

Okay so that's about it for this trip! Hope to have other opportunities in the future to many different places!! :P