May 06, 2009

Tianjin Times

A Canadian, an Irishman, an American, and a Filipino walked into a bus station. They decided to go to Tianjin, the fifth largest city in the People's Republic. The Irishman insisted it was a quick 45 minute bus ride away. The Canadian estimated that it would take 4 hours.


4 hours later, they were in Tianjin. After making a quick stop at a terrifying toilet, booking a room at a hostel, wandering through a bustling marketplace, appreciating the European style architecture, having a meal at the local Irish pub, heading to the youth hangout Alibaba, playing foosball, making their way to a happening nightclub, feeding bread to Russian women, and catching a few hours of sleep, the quartet began the next day by visiting the Olympic Center Stadium, eating lunch, enjoying a stroll along the riverside, and heading back to Beijing on a bullet train journey that took 30 minutes from start to finish.


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"Solitude and company may be allowed to take their turns: the one creates in us the love of mankind, the other that of ourselves; solitude relieves us when we are sick of company, and conversation when we are weary of being alone, so that the one cures the other. There is no man so miserable as he that is at a loss how to use his time." - Seneca