TianJin by Train

This post is dedicated to my brother Mark who is the ultimate train lover. he loves all things train related and I was thinking of him throughout this adventure and wishing he could experience it as well. 


On our second morning in Beijing, while Ken and May Lene worked hard, Elin and I decided to create our own tour. We grabbed a taxi (an adventure in itself) and headed to Beijing South Train Station.

Inside the station there are huge signs in English for the ticket booth and the track numbers. That is the only English anywhere. Had I been by myself my trip would have ended then. Luckily Elin speaks fluent Mandarin and was able to get us our tickets. When you purchase a ticket you are assigned a car and seat. Upon entering the car each passenger is given a bottle of water. The seats are very comfortable with tray tables and reclining. There is way more leg room than on an airplane.

The ride is smooth and quiet and we were hardly aware of the speed. The fastest we noticed was 332 km/h which is well over 200 mph. You only realized how much you were speeding when you would see the trucks barreling down the road and they seemed to be standing still. On a regular train the trip would take 2 hours. We arrived in 30 minutes!


We were told by the concierge at our hotel that there was not much to see in TianJin as it was mostly industrial. Either the concierge had not been to TianJin in several years or he just wanted us to spend our money in Beijing, but he could not have been more wrong. As the train pulled into town we saw quite an array of new skyscrapers and beautiful parks. 

We would have liked to have the time to explore more, but we settled for taking the recommendation of a fellow traveler who told us he goes to TianJin for the dumplings at the Chinese Market. Since we were very hungry this sounded like a plan.

The market is a cross within a square which gave us lots to explore. I was probably one of very few westerners (if not the only one) to shop there that day which made me very appreciative of the uniqueness of this adventure.

We saw the tea seller...

...and the candy seller.

And lots of fish and seafood choices for your lunch. But as Grandpa Henry used to say, "I do not want to get intimate with my dinner before I eat it."

So we settled for dumplings and they were as good as we were told. After lunch, we ran into a celebrity of sorts. While still in the states, I saw a piece on television about the sugar man. He creates candy works of art using melted sugar syrup, a ladle and a marble slab. Everything is done freehand and the pieces can be quite intricate.

We so wanted to take one back to Beijing with us, but knew it would never survive the taxi back to the hotel. 


So our self created adventure turned out to be a wonderful experience that few outsiders will enjoy. The lesson we learned is to take a deep breath and try something new. You may surprise yourself!