Tianjin Trip: Part 1 - A Changing Neighborhood and Friends

The first weekend in March we had the opportunity to visit my (Joab's) "hometown" here in China - Tianjin.  Believe it or not, nearly 17 years ago I had the opportunity to spend nearly 1 year in Tianjin, which is about an hour south of Beijing by train, studying Chinese.  Not only did I learn a ton about Chinese language and culture, but I met many dear friends - many of whom I am still in touch with today.

The first day we were in Tianjin we visited some of these friends who live in Tianjin's Muslim area made up most of ethnic Hui - one of China's largest Muslim minorities.  We were able to see first hand how this community is physically being transformed - as an entire neighborhood of one story homes are being converted into high rise apartment blocks.  In the midst of this change, the community is clearly finding ways to maintain their traditions and customs.  

A tower at the neighborhood mosque

The entrance to the men's worship hall

The Old and The New: 

The rubble of the one story buildings with the apartment buildings in the background

A panoramic view of the old neighborhood with the Mosque tower in the middle

The entrance to the new apartment compound with traditional architecture

Though our time with our friends was brief the kids enjoyed connecting with their children.  They have a lot in common having both grown up in China and attended local schools.

A trip to my old "hometown" isn't complete without some great food.  Here Em is enjoying candied haw-fruit, which we can get in Shanghai, but is much tastier (and cheaper) up North!  Em's hand signal is telling us the total (for 2) was only 6 yuan as apposed to 5 yuan each here in Shanghai.

Saturday Food and Fun

Today was not only beautiful weather wise, but a day filled with family fun and delicious food!

Our morning started with Danish Pancake Balls (Aebleskiver), which is a family Christmas tradition that Emily was so kind to make as a treat.  Miriam accidentally called them apple cider!  LOL!

Next Salome and I (Joab) went with one of her preschool classmates, Tong Tong, to a performance of Cinderella.  The girls had a blast!

It was pretty funny to see the "VIP" kids who got to go on stage before the performance.  Talk about organized chaos!

Later in the day we continued the Danish theme by going to "Andersen's Ice Cream after dinner.  It was fun to eat at a place that almost shares one of our family names - my mom's maiden name is Anderson.

Silas got into the ice cream action too.

On the way home we FINALLY found Miriam's favorite Chinese Sweet - Bing Tang Hu Lu.  It is traditionally a Beijing treat, so finding here in Shanghai is a challenge.  It is even harder to find when it is always sold by hawkers who travel throughout town trying to avoid the police.  Now that we found a seller I made sure to get his phone number so that next time we can call him and just go directly to him to get the treat!

As you can see from this "Wanted" Sign Miriam has been desperately looking for this candy for a long time!

What was most fun for me about finding the Bing Tan Hu Lu was the fact that I did it with all three of the big kids on our electric bike! What a fun Shanghai memory!

On a related note, here is a great video summarizing some of the most famous Shanghai Snacks.