Beijing, Saturday, September 1
I arrived in Beijing at about 2 in the afternoon. As this was my second visit, I felt a certain comfortable familiarity as I went about my business in the airport. First, I cashed some travelers’ checks and then bought an onward ticket to Kashgar, in the west of China. Finally, I walked outside and got in the taxi queue. I passed the taxi touts who frequent the arrival hall, preferring the reliability of the authorized taxi service.

With almost no waiting I was ushered into a taxi. The driver even started the meter without being reminded. He then whisked me passed office buildings and factories on the way to Beijing. In slightly more that 30 minutes I arrived at my hotel. The fare was 80 Yuan - plus 10 more for the highway toll ($11).

My hotel, the Lu Song Yuan, was down a narrow hutong (alley), northwest of the Forbidden City. It can be a little hard to find, so I had brought a map. Using it, the driver found the hotel without any problem. It’s a small, comfortable place - a converted Chinese mansion with rooms organized around a series of courtyards.

I checked in and dropped my bag off. Before I left the hotel, I asked if they could get me a train ticket to Tianjin for the morning. The desk clerk made a phone call and said the ticket would be delivered later in the day - for a 10 Yuan ($1.25) service charge. I then walked down to the end of the hutong and found a restaurant for a late lunch. I sat next to a large window where I could watch the pedestrians, bicycles and cars flowing past.

After lunch I set out to walk the kinks out of my back after 13 hours on the plane. I headed east down Dianmen Lu toward the Second Ring road. I walked past hotels, restaurants, temples, beauty shops and bicycle repair stands. The afternoon was hot and many people were sitting on the sidewalk. Even though only three and a half years had passed since my last visit I detected a change - the people looked more prosperous and happy. This was an impression that was reinforced through my trip.

When I got to the Second Ring Road I took the metro to Wangfujing Dajie, a huge pedestrian mall lined with expensive stores selling everything from clothing to traditional Chinese medicine. It's a stroller’s paradise and as popular with Chinese as it is with tourists.

It was getting dark and a lively night market was starting up. There was a long line of stalls selling every imaginable kind of food. Surely the Chinese eat more different kinds of foods, prepared in more unusually ways, than any other people. There were more kinds of meats, seafood and vegetables than I had never seen. Some broiled, some boiled and some baked.

Since I had recently eaten, I passed the stands by in favor of a little street café where I had a beer. It was a pleasant place to sit and watch people. The evening was pleasantly warm and I was excited to be in China.

When I decide to head back to the hotel I had trouble getting a taxi. I showed my map to three drivers and they all declined. "Maybe they think the hotel is too close," I thought, and decided to walk back. Of course, it turned out to be farther than I thought - it was about 45 minutes away.

It was Saturday night and the streets were full of people - I felt completely at ease. When I got lost I just showed my map - which was in Chinese as well as English - to some passersby and they would point the way. At the hotel I picked up my train ticket and then fell into bed exhausted.

Beijing, Sunday, September 2
After a great breakfast at the hotel restaurant, I asked the hotel desk clerk to write Panjiayuan Flea Market in Chinese for me. I walked down to the main street, flagged down a taxi and showed the note to the driver. As I got in the driver said, "Good morning, how are you?" in perfectly accented English. I was momentarily lulled into thinking that he actually spoke my language.

I started rattling on only to realize he was just parroting something he had learned by rote. To emphasize the point he put a tape in and played some for me: "Please turn right", "I will wait by the north gate" and such. First it was in Chinese and then in English.

Later I met a Chinese shopkeeper who told me that the government was trying to teach the taxi drivers a hundred phrases by the 2008 Olympics. If you can judge from this guy, they will surely make it.

It was still pretty early when I arrived, but the market was already busy. Vendors were setting up on tables under a huge shed and on blankets in an adjoining area. They were selling everything from eyeglasses to furniture, from tea to kites, but the big pull for the tourists were the antiques, some real and some fake.

Of course, I bought my share. I got a small delicately carved wooden dragon and a piece of hand embroidered fabric. The latter was from one of the ethnic tribes in the south of China - but don't ask me which. The bargaining for both was fierce - I thought the starting prices were way too high, but by walking away several times I was able to get the prices down.

I also saw crickets for sale. I have always been fascinating by the Chinese love of crickets and have often seen cages with a chirping cricket as I walked around. Maybe cricket isn't the correct name. These are not the little black insects we are familiar with in the Eastern US. These creatures are large - several inches long - and bright green. Anyway, there were several men selling them and I was delighted when one vendor held up a cage for me to photograph.

Even if you don't buy anything, the Panjiayuan market is still a fascinating place to wander - it's especially great for taking pictures. Any guidebook will tell you where it is, but it's only open on Saturday and Sunday.

After a few hours the crowd started to get too thick and I decide to move along. Outside the market I got a taxi back to the hotel. After I picked up my bag and checked out, I walked down to the end of the hutong and had lunch at the same place as yesterday. The food was ok, but the best part was being able to watch the people walk by. Once again I was hit by the prosperity: the new clothes, the well fed kids and the mobile phones - even people on bicycles were talking on them.

After lunch I got a taxi to the station and went looking for my train. Most of the signs were in Chinese, so I started showing my ticket to anyone who looked official. In short order I found the entrance to the correct platform - it was surrounded by a mass of people. When the gate finally opened there was a mad rush down the stairs to the train. I knew I had a reserved seat, so I hung back and didn't battle the crowd. On the platform I found my car without difficulty.

I was riding in "soft seat", as first class is known in classless China. It was a double-decker car, air-conditioned with soft, cushy seats, just like the name implied.

I was on my way to Tianjin, a large, industrial city a little over two hours southeast of Beijing. I had decided to stop there on my way to Beidaihe, a seaside resort. I had an extra day and wanted to see something different. Being so close to Beijing not many tourists stop in Tianjin - that appealed to me. On my trips I always try to hit a few places off the tourist track.

The train pulled out right on time at 1:10 and shortly we were clickity-clacking through the lush, green countryside. The land was flat and under cultivation everywhere there wasn't a settlement or a factory. Mostly I saw corn and sunflowers growing.

The car was only half full and since the seat next to me was empty, I could spread out and relax. I passed the time looking out the window and writing in my journal. The elderly Chinese couple across from me spent their time eating Oreo cookies and drinking Coke.

I had chosen my hotel in Tianjin for its location - it was only about 10 minutes from the train station. It was a huge, modern tower right on the river, but oddly named the Ocean. I checked in and got a room on the 12th floor.

Then I walked over to the main shopping area about 10 minutes away. It was a large pedestrian mall lined with huge department stores, eyeglass shops, fast food restaurants and stores selling mobile phones. The Chinese were out in force, girls in tight slacks, men in shiny black shoes and moms with strollers. If you have never been to China you might be surprised how modern the cities are.

Although the street was nominally pedestrian-only every now and then a battery-powered trolley would whiz by scattering the shoppers. Also, at every cross street I had to brave a steady stream of aggressive drivers to continue down the mall. There is nothing quite like Chinese traffic. Even where there is a signal, traffic never completely stops and there is no place where the pedestrian has the right of way.

In Beijing I had been mostly ignored - I guess the novelty of seeing foreigners had worn off for them - but not in Tianjin. Here people stopped and turned their heads to watch me walk by. Also, for the day and a half I was in Tianjin, I didn't see another Westerner. All and all, I was quite a novelty.

After dinner I went to a nearby park for a beer. Under the streetlights the Chinese were enjoying the cool evening. Couples strolled by, old men played Go and kids rode by on kick scooters with wheels that lit up.

Tianjin, Monday, September 3
Before I left the hotel in the morning I asked the travel desk to get me a train ticket to Beidaihe - I wanted to move on the next morning. They said there would be a 10-Yuan service charge. After seeing the long, confusing lines at the Beijing ticket office, I figured it was money well spent.

I then headed out to visit the Ancient Culture Street. It's a pedestrian-only area lined with restored buildings that house tourist shops selling kites, paintbrushes and all manner of Chinese knickknacks. Although completely commercial, it was still fun to walk along and look at the goods and the people buying them. I bought a couple of things myself: a large batik of a phoenix and a small crystal world globe with the countries written in Chinese.

I continued walking to the end of the street and then decided to stop at a nearby KFC for a drink. I have found that American fast food places are convenient rest stops in China. As I was writing in my journal, a young woman came up and said "Excuse me, may I interrupt you?" She then went on to tell me that she was a university student and was teaching a middle school mathematics class. When she found out I was from America she said her brother was studying medicine there. I asked her where and was surprised when she told me the University of Michigan - that's in Ann Arbor, my hometown.

Before long she rushed off to teach her class and I headed back to my hotel to drop off the stuff I had bought. I also asked about my ticket - "Not ready yet, later," they said. I headed back to the downtown area again. There is a famous steam bun restaurant nearby that I had read about. I love steam buns and was looking forward to giving it a try.

When I got there, much to my disappointment, it was closed. Well, not exactly closed. There were waitresses at the door, but they weren't letting anyone in. It wasn't clear why - they were just pointing to a large sign in Chinese. Maybe it said there was a private party. Anyway, the results were clear: no steamed buns for lunch.

The rest of the afternoon was almost a complete loss - after lunch I took a long nap. I lay around until I became completely bored and finally dragged myself down to the lobby to check on my ticket, "Not ready yet, after 5:00." After that I went for another walk - first toward the railroad station and then back to the downtown area. When I came back just before dark my ticket had finally arrived.

Thinking back I wondered about my inactivity. While Tianjin wasn't exactly the most exciting place I have ever visited, it wasn't that bad. Instead, I think I was feeling the delayed effect of my international travel. This was the first time since I had arrived that I had had a chance to slow down.

Ann Arbor, Michigan
November 2001

Part Two: Beidaihe
Part Three: Kashgar
Part Four: Urumqi & Turpan
Part Five: Details & Hotels

Read more of my travelogues

Send your comments to: