6月1日，友人夫妇带我去了津湾广场。津湾广场占地面积很大，现在只有一期工程已经完工并对外开放了，其他的正在建设中，但从已完工的这部分就已经能够看出其规模之宏大，这里将来将是豪华用品集散地，并由多个西式餐厅及咖啡厅，估计半年后再到访此地时将又会给人一种完全不同的感受了吧。
接下来，友人又推荐我去了意式街，现声明这条街并不是新建的，上个世纪初就有，因为天津从前是14国租界，到处都是洋房，其中一块集中的就在海河沿岸，那时候这里的建筑真可谓是美轮美奂，只可惜在共产党执政后把它们分给了穷人，你是知道的啦，这些穷人即使穿上龙袍也不像太子,皇宫也能被他们给折腾成贫民窟，那时到处被他们堆着煤球啦，白菜啦之类的，简直没有人愿意走近，更不要说观光了。幸好实行了改革开放政策，这些房子被收了回来，重新整修，令其再度光彩照人，这里现在是参观酒吧林立，颇具地中海风情。
从那里出来后我们又参观了古文化街。这里的街道大概除了天后宫外，都是新建的仿古建筑，但比原来破破烂烂的旧建筑来得要好得多，来这里的大多是游客，据说以北京人为主，现在有了新干线后，每15分钟就有一趟车来往于两地，全程也只要不到半个小时，所以从北京来的一日游的旅客非常多。不要以为游客多的地方东西就贵，这里的东西可便宜了，尤其以文化类如文字，图章等和旗袍为主，这里旗袍款式之多，价格之低廉令人瞠目，所以有机会来这里一定要买上一件。
晚上他们请我吃了正宗的炸酱面，再加上两盘小菜，一盘是凉拌海蜇皮，酸酸的，再加上有点芥末的味道，一口一口叫人真的停不下来。
吃饱喝足后，她又带我去了她家旁边的人民公园，她很喜欢这个公园，她说这个公园给他们的小区带来了几分文化气息，而且她说公园的名字还是毛泽东亲笔题的，毛一生就只为这一个公园题过字。总结一天收获真的好大，感谢有人夫妇。
On 21/06/10, my friend and her husband brought me to Italian Street in Tianjin. As Tianjin was a colony of 13 western countries and Japan, it left behind many western style houses. One relic of this sort of architecture was located near the Bank of Haihe River. Before the communist Party took in power, many western people and rich Chinese built their western style houses thereto make the place look like "Little Europe in China". After the liberation, Chinese Government confiscated these properties and gave them to the poor. Since then, those people started pile up their char coal, vegetables, old and dirty furniture and even rubbish around the buildings. Hardly one could tell these were the last time luxury residential areas. It looked like a slum in Bombay. You know what I mean, these poor people even living in palaces, they would have the abilities to turn them into hell. Thanks to God that after the reform and open policy, the Government took them back and gave these historical places a facelift. Now they are as shinny as new. Most of them now are restaurants or bars, some with the music performance. Now it’s back to heaven again.
From there, we went to the Ancient Culture Street. Although here the majority of buildings were just imitations, except Tian Hou Gong (Temple), they looked much better than the old shabby ones. People here were mainly tourists especially from Beijing. That was because after the trans-city express finished, it only took 30mins from Beijing to Tianjin and the interval was only 15mins. Items sold here were mainly culture related like personal stamps and qipao (Chinese traditional costume). I bought one qipao there, which cost only 50 Renminbi (S$10.23). Unbelievable. Better buy one here if next time you have chance to visit Tianjin.
Dinner was authentic Beijing Style Zhajiang Noodle. It came with 2 side dishes. One of it was Jelly Fish Salad. It tasted a bit sour and with the muster seed paste. Yummy.
After dinner, she brought me to 人民公园 next to her house. She liked this Park very much. She said this Park shed some culture atmosphere to their neighborhood. She also mentioned the words on the tablet which has the name of the park on it was written by Mao (Last time Chinese leader). This was the only Park which has the Mao’s own inscriptions. Today is a really interesting day. Thanks to my friend and her husband.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
蓟县自驾游 / Visiting My Friend’s Vacation Home at Jixian County, Tianjin China
6月14日，友人夫妇开车带我去他们在蓟县的度假屋。现在从天津到蓟县十分方便，开车走高速公路很快就到，多数家庭都有自己的汽车，因为那天是星期天，所以很多人都去度假，路上有点堵，要不然很快就到了。
他们的度假屋坐落于当地的富人区，那里多数是津京两地的有钱人的投资热门，小屋是酒店式的，虽然很小，五脏俱全，他们对此进行了豪华装修，特别是卫生间用具，都是一流的，房间集卧室，客厅，厨房于一体，倒也别致。屋外还有一个小院子，他们在里面种满了蔬菜，花生和番薯等，极富情趣。
这以后，我们去了当地的一间餐厅吃午餐，当地的餐厅以农家菜而闻名，又因为这里紧挨着于桥水库，友人说这里的鱼味道极鲜美，但最令我难忘的是一道叫做大丰收的典型农家菜，所谓大丰收就是将各种生的新鲜蔬菜切好装盘，再配上一碗黄豆酱，既不破坏蔬菜原有的营养成分，又不油腻，味道极好，现在想到还流口水。
饭后我们游历了具有上千年历史的独乐寺和白塔寺。虽然我们是自己游览，没有参加任旅行团，但我们随意加入了其中的两个，导游们也十分友善地回答我们的询问，凸现现在中国导游的素质已今非昔比了。
这之后，我们又去了蓟州古城，据说现在除了鼓楼外，其他都是新建的仿古建筑，但也极富特色，很值得一游。
有人的家就坐落在府君山下，于是游玩古城之后我们又去爬了府君山。有人体贴地为我找了一双软底拖鞋，再加上山并不很高，当时太阳已近下山了，周围设施修得极其完善，所以爬山的感觉很妙。在山上，看到一群年轻人在练习唱歌，据说是为了歌唱比赛或选秀赛做的准备，现在中国的乡下人生活也是极富色彩呢。
古蓟州，果然是个好地方，据说当年乾隆曾说早知有此，何必下江南，有机会一定要来此看看。
14/06/10, my friend and her husband drove me to their vacation home in Jixian, a county in Tianjin.
It’s about 2 hours drive from the city on the highway depending on the road conditions. Now Jixian is becoming a very popular vacation place for people from Tianjin and Beijing because it is located in between these two cities and many families now have their own cars. As a result, many people now are wooing for a short distance, self-driving tour. The day we went was on Sunday. So it was a bit congested.
Their vacation home is a hotel style suite. Although modest, it has nearly everything. The bathroom has just undergone an extensive renovation. All the accessories are world class. Additionally the sitting room, bedroom and kitchen are all one room, without walls or partitions. It’s quite interesting though. They also have one small yard outside which was planted with vegetables, peanuts, sweet potatoes and so on.
Lunch was at a local restaurant which was famous for "farm dishes". My friend told me because the place was near the famous Yuqiao Reservoir, so people normally come for fishes. But the dish impressed me the most was called "Da Feng Shou" – which means fabulous harvest. They had accumulated many kinds of raw vegetables cut into bite size pieces that you would then dip into fermented soy bean paste. It’s damn delicious and even until today the taste is still lingering in my mind.
After the lunch, we went to visit 独乐寺and 白马寺. These two temples both have more than a 1000 years of history. Although we did not join any package tour, we followed two guides from time to time. Both of the guides answered our questions although they realized we were not the members from their groups. That is a strong indicator that China has greatly improved their tourist industry.
Then we visited this ancient town. It’s said that except the 鼓楼- The Drum Tower (In each ancient Chinese town, city or village, there was a drum tower. The purpose of having it was to gather the crowd and make the important announcements) , and the rest of the buildings are simply the modern replicas. Yet it looked also terrific.
After that we climbed the mountain named 府君山, as their house is just at the foot of the 府君山. As my friend offered me her soft slippers and the mountain was not really that high, another reason was the Sun was nearly setting, our climbing was a truly enjoyable one. Inside a pavilion on top of the mountain, we saw some youngsters practicing their singing in preparation for some competition. It seems in China even villagers are having a more colorful life compared to the past. Ancient Jizhou (the old name for Jixian) was an interesting place which located on the border in between Chinese and Northern ethnic groups. Therefore, the culture is always attractive. In Qing Dynasty, the Emperor Qianlong visited there and said if I knew such a place, I wouldn’t visit Jiangnan (South Eastern China) He was right and it’s definitely worth visiting.
他们的度假屋坐落于当地的富人区，那里多数是津京两地的有钱人的投资热门，小屋是酒店式的，虽然很小，五脏俱全，他们对此进行了豪华装修，特别是卫生间用具，都是一流的，房间集卧室，客厅，厨房于一体，倒也别致。屋外还有一个小院子，他们在里面种满了蔬菜，花生和番薯等，极富情趣。
这以后，我们去了当地的一间餐厅吃午餐，当地的餐厅以农家菜而闻名，又因为这里紧挨着于桥水库，友人说这里的鱼味道极鲜美，但最令我难忘的是一道叫做大丰收的典型农家菜，所谓大丰收就是将各种生的新鲜蔬菜切好装盘，再配上一碗黄豆酱，既不破坏蔬菜原有的营养成分，又不油腻，味道极好，现在想到还流口水。
饭后我们游历了具有上千年历史的独乐寺和白塔寺。虽然我们是自己游览，没有参加任旅行团，但我们随意加入了其中的两个，导游们也十分友善地回答我们的询问，凸现现在中国导游的素质已今非昔比了。
这之后，我们又去了蓟州古城，据说现在除了鼓楼外，其他都是新建的仿古建筑，但也极富特色，很值得一游。
有人的家就坐落在府君山下，于是游玩古城之后我们又去爬了府君山。有人体贴地为我找了一双软底拖鞋，再加上山并不很高，当时太阳已近下山了，周围设施修得极其完善，所以爬山的感觉很妙。在山上，看到一群年轻人在练习唱歌，据说是为了歌唱比赛或选秀赛做的准备，现在中国的乡下人生活也是极富色彩呢。
古蓟州，果然是个好地方，据说当年乾隆曾说早知有此，何必下江南，有机会一定要来此看看。
14/06/10, my friend and her husband drove me to their vacation home in Jixian, a county in Tianjin.
It’s about 2 hours drive from the city on the highway depending on the road conditions. Now Jixian is becoming a very popular vacation place for people from Tianjin and Beijing because it is located in between these two cities and many families now have their own cars. As a result, many people now are wooing for a short distance, self-driving tour. The day we went was on Sunday. So it was a bit congested.
Their vacation home is a hotel style suite. Although modest, it has nearly everything. The bathroom has just undergone an extensive renovation. All the accessories are world class. Additionally the sitting room, bedroom and kitchen are all one room, without walls or partitions. It’s quite interesting though. They also have one small yard outside which was planted with vegetables, peanuts, sweet potatoes and so on.
Lunch was at a local restaurant which was famous for "farm dishes". My friend told me because the place was near the famous Yuqiao Reservoir, so people normally come for fishes. But the dish impressed me the most was called "Da Feng Shou" – which means fabulous harvest. They had accumulated many kinds of raw vegetables cut into bite size pieces that you would then dip into fermented soy bean paste. It’s damn delicious and even until today the taste is still lingering in my mind.
After the lunch, we went to visit 独乐寺and 白马寺. These two temples both have more than a 1000 years of history. Although we did not join any package tour, we followed two guides from time to time. Both of the guides answered our questions although they realized we were not the members from their groups. That is a strong indicator that China has greatly improved their tourist industry.
Then we visited this ancient town. It’s said that except the 鼓楼- The Drum Tower (In each ancient Chinese town, city or village, there was a drum tower. The purpose of having it was to gather the crowd and make the important announcements) , and the rest of the buildings are simply the modern replicas. Yet it looked also terrific.
After that we climbed the mountain named 府君山, as their house is just at the foot of the 府君山. As my friend offered me her soft slippers and the mountain was not really that high, another reason was the Sun was nearly setting, our climbing was a truly enjoyable one. Inside a pavilion on top of the mountain, we saw some youngsters practicing their singing in preparation for some competition. It seems in China even villagers are having a more colorful life compared to the past. Ancient Jizhou (the old name for Jixian) was an interesting place which located on the border in between Chinese and Northern ethnic groups. Therefore, the culture is always attractive. In Qing Dynasty, the Emperor Qianlong visited there and said if I knew such a place, I wouldn’t visit Jiangnan (South Eastern China) He was right and it’s definitely worth visiting.
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