Memoirs of Beijing

If you would like to try the bullet train in Beijing and don’t want to go far, Tianjin is a good option for a day trip.  Tianjin (天津) is a municipality in China which is roughly 86 miles southeast of Beijing.  It’s one of the major ports in northern China with the Bohai Gulf to the east and Hebei province to the north and south.

Bullet Train to Tianjin

From Beijing, head towards the Beijing South Station to purchase your tickets to Tianjin.  Travel time is roughly 30 minutes and several trains leave every hour except late at night.  Ticket costs from RMB 55 (second class), RMB 66 (first class) for C trains.  You will need a valid ID for each passenger when you purchase a ticket.  First train leaves at 710am and the last train departs at 11pm.  Your destination would be Tianjin Main Station (天津站).

To return to Beijing South Station, the first train leaves at 650am and the last train leaves at 1045pm.

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The FIBA Asia Championship is currently ongoing in Tianjin from August 6 to 16.  As Team Pilipinas is one of the contenders, my friends and I decided to show our support by watching the game live. 

Normally, a train ride to Tianjin takes 25 minutes via Beijing South Station or 1 hour via Beijing Main Station.  However, as the game starts at 9pm.  We won’t be able to make it back to Beijing and catch the last train at 10pm. 

So, we have two other options.  One is to join the bus organized by the Philippines Embassy and the other is find someone with a car who would be willing to drive all the way there.  When you take a road trip to Tianjin, it will normally take you 2 hours without traffic and 3-4 hours if an accident happened.

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Last August 1, the Beijing South Station officially started operations and the first train out was the new C-trains to Tianjin.  These trains travel at a top speed of 350 kilometers per hours or 100 meters per second.  Travelling  between Beijing and Tianjin is further cut into half from the previous 1 hour to 30 mins.

One way ticket cost 69 yuan for first class and 58 yuan for second class.  The picture on the right is in the second class area.  Tickets can be purchased at the train stations (main, west and south)  3 days in advance.

According to my friend who travels to Tianjin regularly, there are a lot of people currently riding the C-trains because it’s new.   Travelling to the South station is not too convenient as you can either take the bus or taxi only.    The nearest subway stop is Xuanwumen in line 2 then ride a taxi bound south past 6 major roads.   It’s located in between the South 2nd ring road and third ring road.

Make sure you know where you’re getting off in Tianjin as they could either take you to Tianjin Main (天津站) or Tianjin West (天津西站) Station.

Pictures from xinhua

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I was meaning to go to Starbucks for quite some time to take photos and check out the latest city mugs and tumblers.  I got the chance to do it yesterday as I was at the main office and there’s a Starbucks on my way to the bus stop.

In that Starbucks, they still have the Beijing mug & tumblers which I’ve posted in my previous blog as well as the latest Tianjin tumbler and demitasse set.  The Tianjin tumbler has that huge clock structure which I saw on the way to the city from the train station.  The color and font design is similar to the new Beijing & China tumblers which they’ve recently released.  Retail price for the tumbler is RMB 95.

The demitasse set composed of one Tianjin cup and one China cup.  Retail price  for this set is RMB 88.  They’re quite cute and when I went to the Starbucks near my home, they said it’s already sold out.

Since I wasn’t happy with the photos I’ve taken in the Starbucks near the office, I  thought about going to the Starbucks near my home.  When I got there, they don’t have the tumbler nor the demitasse set.  They, however, have the Tianjin mug.  In this shop, they were more amenable to have a picture taken so I think the picture is much better.  Retail price of the mug is RMB 90.

Well.. for the collectors in Manila, I have a friend going home this August.  Send me a comment if you want me to buy you some of them.  For other collectors, I’ll see what I can do with the shipping.

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