The port city of Tianjin (Tian Jin) is
like the Port of Los Angeles - nowhere close to the city itself. Tian Jin is a
city of 10 million people, but it's about 45km from the port. We did not know
this as we began to look for a taxi after getting off the ship. Most of the
guests were leave us to travel to Beijing and then on to their respective
homes. Only about 56 of us were continuing on to the next cruise. Of those, 10
were on an organized day trip to the Great Wall.
So nearly 60 taxis, were fighting to get the business of the few hardy souls
that wanted to do any local sight-seeing. Some had limited English skills, but
were so aggressive in trying to woo us a customers that they frightened us.
Finally we selected a soft-spoken driver who indicated a very fare rate.
Unfortunately, his English was as good as our Chinese. So the adventure begins
. . . |