Last weekend, Hannah and I decided that we fancied a trip out of Beijing to see other parts of China; less cosmopolitan areas where there are no western faces wandering importantly around. Looking at various train timetables we came across a place called Tianjin that was only one and a half hours away. That's positively next door for the Chinese, who will happily travel overnight in the most uncomfortable hard sleeper trains if it means they can buy some new shoes and a pair of mittens connected with string through their jacket sleeves ...   more »