Karoke (KTV)
By INTIANJIN | 6/30/2004 7:56:09 PM
Karoke is extremely high priced at the bars. 380RMB at one bar we saw. We paid only 98RMB for 6 hours (0:00 - 06:00) at one KTV shop and 83RMB for over an hour at another. Normally its 60RMB/hour before midnight and after midnight they give a good deal. You get your own room with a nice setup. Of course every 20 minutes someone will peek thru your glass window'd door to check on you. You can order drinks or food and smoke in your room to your heart's delight. I'd suggest KTV over the bars for a good night out. There are two types of KTV. The first type uses music with the ability to turn vocals on or off (this is best if you sing english songs). The second type just has MIDI style music, no vocal option and the beat, rythm, and pitch are off key so trying to sing to a song sucks. If you go to the second type of KTV then I'd suggest singing along to Nirvana cause no one will notice the difference :D
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Bar district
By INTIANJIN | 6/29/2004 7:17:42 AM
The bar district houses many bars beside one another. Men stand outside each bar herassing you to enter. It costs much more for alcohol at the bars than other places (Corona for 25RMB opposed to normal 14RMB price). One bar had dancing girls in it. When we sat down to watch after ordering drinks a young man came up and stated we had to order more drinks. Quite disrespectful. Considering the bartender was happy with us having just order 1 drink apiece we figured he was trying to scam us so we left our drinks and walked out. Wet t-shirt contests can be found in some places. Other than that the entertainment is clothed.
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Buses and Taxis
By INTIANJIN | 7/6/2004 12:17:47 PM
A city bus costs 1RMB per person. If you are planning to be in Tianjin for a while then its good to learn the buses on the routes you commonly take. I'd advise taking an umbrella with you if you are waiting for the bus.
There are two types of taxi here. The red taxis and yellow taxi bus'. They both start the metre off at 5RMB for 3 km. Then you are charged depending on which you use. A red taxi charges 1.5RMB/km beyond 3km and 1.5RMB/minute when you are waiting. The yellow taxi bus' are cheaper at only 1.3RMB/km or per minute idling.
RMB. On average I pay 6.5-12 for my trips around town but when traffic is bad I see upwards of 16.
During peak hours traffic gets heavy. Buses are filled up and taking a taxi means alot of idle cost. During times like this you don't want to take the bus as it stops often and that means no wind blowing inside to cool you off. Instead take a taxi and haggle for a set price. 12RMB should be good.
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TV Tower
By INTIANJIN | 7/2/2004 1:19:48 AM
The Tianjin TV tower is the world's 6th or so biggest tower. It charges 50RMB per person to get thru the gate. The view from inside the tower isn't good (not clear - smog) and there isn't anything to do up there. There are some sofas and tables upstairs in the rotating floor. The only food for sale during the day is buns, you have to wait until 17:00 to buy dinner. Don't waste your time and money going, its as interesting as watching mold grow. The only way to appreciate it is by looking at it from outside.
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Finding cigars
By INTIANJIN | 7/2/2004 1:22:29 AM
Finding cigars in Tianjin is worthy of a Stephen King novel. There are tobacco shops called Tobacco World and they are spread out around the city. One I commonly go to is located between Alibaba's and the Nankai University. Its situated on a corner opposite the university campus. They don't all have the same stock but amongst their 50 cigarette brands and 20 cigar brands they generally have Camel, Kent, Marlboro and Cafe Creme and Captain black cigarellos.
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Tombs of Qing Dynasty
By INTIANJIN | 7/2/2004 10:23:45 AM
The tombs of the Qing Dynasty are amazing. The tombs themselves are underground and built of beautiful stone and are original and unaltered. The tombs have coffins of the kings/queens and concubines in them but nothing more. Above each tomb is a palace. The palaces are in great condition and most have been restored to some degree. The landscape has other awesome temples and palaces to behold too. The queen who built the summer palace in Beijing rests in a tomb here.
The Qing tombs are located in Ji Xian of Tianjin.
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Heping Market closed
By INTIANJIN | 6/27/2004 5:21:59 PM
The Heping Market which sells western brand goods has closed down. Its still advertised on some websites as being open and has a map giving direction. Chances are you wouldn't find the old building from the map anyways :D
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Washing high quality clothings
By INTIANJIN | 7/2/2004 2:16:22 AM
If you have any high quality western clothing then ensure you buy Tide (sold here) or a home brand of detergent. Some local detergents will ruin more delicate western clothings. If your clothing is being washed by hand in the traditional style then ensure its not left to sit in the bucket for too long or the detergents may eat at your colours. Quality hotels have good laundry service so if you need special washing like dry cleaning you can check them out.
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