19/3/2011
Saturday. 洋货市场visit and karaoke session.
After today, I can conclude 2 things. 1) you see more things on a public transport system. 2) I am not going back to 洋货市场
We decided to venture out of the city further, so the first stop was the yang huo shi chang. It sounds pretty close by to me. After all of us got up on the 643 with some of our china buddies, it then dawned to me how far away this market actually was. I’m guessing 50
On the way, the bus passed by the 5 streets area, and I had a taste of 5 streets scenery.
The prominent landmark to the entrance of the 5 streets area. It's just a statue, but it's a very useful marker when you're trying to explore on foot. I don't know what's it's called, but there are 4 marble statues for each side, so what exactly is this?
Small Park behind the concert hall (Russian style). The curved walkways are really unique, it was my first time coming across them too. This was when I was really tempted to get off the bus. Unlucky me-.-
Condo advertisement!So common everywhere. Singapore's condo advertisements have big pictures and glass displays, it looks like a resort rather than a housing advert. In Tianjin, there is a bigger play of words involved, and less pictures. I think surroundings of the estate isn't a big issue for them, they prefer floor space over anything else.
A stall from a house window. How cute is that? I spy minute maid!
I was sorely tempted to get off the bus, carrying nothing but a camera. Now I understood why my father insisted I bring one of his “black beauties” with me on this trip. I argued that if they were to be lost or damaged, there was no way I could pay him back. He compliments my skill with using a basic camera. I beg to differ.
After a ridiculously long bus ride, we then moved on to a train ride.
Train station! Not as breezy or bright like Singapore's, but just as high tech
The train station has barriers on the platform, just like Singapore’s to prevent people from falling over to the tracks.
Tracks taken from the train platform. Resembles LRT lines, doesn't it? Most of the tracks have granite stones at the bottom for some reason, but this one's clean like a sheet. I still don't know what the granite stones are for.
As the train whizzed through the stations, I noticed that there were considerably lesser people living near the train station, unlike Singapore, where the closer to the MRT is the best.
A undeveloped housing area along the train route. There isn't much housing like the part of the city we stay in, but transport here is much convenient compared to where we stayed in.
I think it’s the lifestyle of owning their own car that they got used to. Even on the train, there weren’t much people around. Most interestingly, the train passed by industrial towns and even a nuclear power plant.
In case if you would like to know whether housing is available within a close proximity of a power station, all I can tell you is "Stay at your own risk". That plant sure looks huge.
I remembered about the Japanese nuclear crisis and prayed that the train could pass through quickly.
I thought passing through the nuclear power station was bad enough. Until we got off at the last stop, I had no idea how mild that place was. You see, 洋货市场is a really sinister place. We had been forewarned not to buy anything from there, as they were most likely rip offs. That wasn’t too bad. It was the sight of fishing poles, blades, baseball bats, lasers, power tools and electronic taser guns made me cross out that place from that list.
A street vendor selling 葫芦, which is a good luck charm. I have a small one too^^
Prawn paste vendor. The market is near the coast, there are people selling live fish and seafood on the roads and all the fishing equipment indoors. I think it's too crowded to fish for anything.
I don't know what this is. Looks like though she's selling some snacks or beans, but her business is bad. Will someone reading this in Tianjin go buy things from her?
Shopping arcade.in the market area. They do accommodate for tourists, but less souvenirs, and more of a local flavor and a pragmatic line, like bags, shirts, boots. You can't really find any touristy things like display ornaments and key rings.
Interior of the arcade again. There are still people walking around, but this time more locals instead of tourist groups
It seem like the place to buy murder weapons, and really easily too, for the area where the shops were was really big, and it was common to find other shops selling the same thing. I remembered walking past a shop selling ammunition bullets. Bullets, according to the size of your gun barrel, type of guns, anything. They might as well sell guns to top it all.
We walked around for 1 hour plus, narrowly dodging all the murder weapons on display, before deciding to head back (another 2 hour journey awaits).
Abandoned chess game. The shopkeepers play a friendly game of chinese chess whenever business is slow, and their skill is really, really good, due to the amount of practice they can squeeze in each day. I can't even win 1 game.
Ktv was in the evening. I asked my buddy to come along, and we ended up not being inside the room, but sitting inside a neighboring one, listening to the English songs I helped her to download to improve her English, and hearing the others sing one by one. The other china buddies who went, they seem to enjoy themselves more than me. I think karaoke’s part of their culture, unlike me; I don’t really go to sing.
Eeks.
And then we ended up eating dinner (well, she was drinking a soda), and I ordered 锅盖饭. I strangely report that I managed to finish it (amazingly), and my food problem is solved for now. Probably the锅盖饭’s the closest thing to what I eat at home, and it’s the only dish I know which is steamed and has minimal seasoning as well (yay porridge!). oh, how I miss my mother’s cookingT_TMy camera battery had died by then, but the included pictures are the ones I feel the most appropriate.
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