Well I mean, I went to China and those 2 words are of utmost importance because it's so heavily repeated in the Chinese national anthem...

Anyway, China was great fun.

Day 1, and it was the first time I sat on a Singapore Airlines plane. Obviously, the past few plane experiences weren't great - I had taken Tigerair more than 3 times. Poor legroom, no meals, no in-flight entertainment. Boring ride. But coming onto SQ was totally different. I had everything opposite, I was able to stretch my legs, have a hearty meal, and got entertained. Of course, thanks to my airplane buddy Faith too. We watched the LEGO movie, The Big Bang Theory etc. It was great fun. The view when the plane was about to land was pretty scenic too.

Day 2, and we went to Tianjin. We first visited the Tianjin City Planning Exhibition. I always get excited when I see these miniature models; I have always marvelled at their creation and arrangement. Such fine pieces of art.




First meal in Tianjin gave us a preview of what we were in for for the next 6 days... Pretty much, same thing for the whole trip. Lots of food that we can only finish about 50% of.

Next destination was the Tianjin Fuxing High School, where we then got to interact with the students over there. Pretty cool, went to Scientific Invention class where there were really cool inventions and solutions to China's everyday problems, from parking to saving water. A Chinese girl from the class tapped me from the back, so I turned around and she then called me “帅哥”(handsome boy). Definitely wasn't used to it, so I giggled and blushed and turned back. Awkward situation.

Left the school, went to shop at a small street selling local food. Bought... nothing... Except for a McDonalds Matcha cone. Quite local.

View was pretty nice at about 7:30pm.

Day 3: We went to the Tianjin Airport Industrial Park, visiting the Sea-Gull Watch Group Factory. It's a Chinese branded watch company by the way. Pretty cool stuff they had.




And then we went to visit the Airbus A320 Factory. We actually saw part of the making process, how it was furbished and fitted with final parts before being sprayed and cleaned. It was so cool! Unfortunately, no photography so... Here are some selfies my bus mates mischievously took with my phone camera...




Airbus indeed.

We shopped at this forsaken shopping palace. It was so westernised, so big! It was like a shopping loop. Like, instead of a street, it was a loop. Visited the Nike and Adidas store, came out and bought... Just some socks.

Next stop was Tianjin-Singapore Eco-City. It's a joint venture project between China and Singapore, and certainly there were elements of Singapore's presence. The designs of the "HDB flats" were largely inspired. It felt like home. Kinda. It was really cooling and the air was so clean, a stark contrast from the city centre of Tianjin.