Streets
大家好! (Dàjiā hao!) hello everyone!
It’s been nearly 4 weeks since I have arrived in Tianjin, China! My adventure began by waving goodbye to my family in Edinburgh airport for a short flight to London then a ten hour flight to Beijing and finally a two hour bus journey to Tianjin! I couldn’t believe that after months of anticipation i was finally on my way to China. I arrived at Tianjin Normal University campus where i will be living as well as studying Mandarin for the next 10 months. From my room window i have a perfect view of one of Tianjin’s recognisable landmarks, the Tianjin radio television tower.
Tianjin radio television tower
I spent my first few weeks in Tianjin exploring the local area around our university campus and venturing into the city as classes hadn’t begun. I visited some famous sites in Tianjin with some of the other scholars and super Alvin joined us. We explored ancient culture, Italian street and Hia river which made me even more excited to be living in Tianjin for 10 months as there are lots of amazing places to sight see and so much culture to learn about.
Me and Super Alvin in Ancient culture street
Super Alvin in Ancient culture street
Hia river
The first thing i noticed about the streets in China was how busy they were with people and traffic. Tianjin is the third busiest city in China with a population of 12.8 million people whereas Scotland’s population is just over 5 million. If you think Glasgow is busy imagine Tianjin! the streets would be lined with bikes as they are a popular way to quickly and cheaply journey around the city. Even though the streets in China are rarely empty of people they are really clean and free of rubbish due to the many workers who keep the streets tidy by sweeping leaves and dust.
One of my favourite things about Tianjin so far has to be that there are so many food stalls and shops filled with amazing food! Chinese street food is really cheap but very tasty. My favourite thing to eat is jian bing guozi wich is similar to a rolled up omelette but with added herbs and a crunchy texture. It is really popular in Tianjin.
Food shop windows along the streets
Bikes lining the street
Just from walking down a street in China could teach you so much about the culture due to the many market stalls, small shops and the food places that make up the streets and I can’t wait to tell you all more all about it in my blogs to come!
再见 (zàijiàn) good bye!
p.s.
Super Alvin has been loving China so much but his favourite part so far was when he went on a trip to the mountains and made some new friends. He says he couldn’t get a photo with his new friends because they were too playful and fast but just like Super Alvin they love to climb trees. Can you guess what kind of animals super Alvin met? See if you guessed right in my next blog!