Gentle sleet fell as our group piled into the bus on Monday afternoon, all excited about seeing the Mariners train at Teda International Stadium. We zoomed through Tianjin streets and headed onto the freeway, surprised that this town was so sprawling. We hadn't realised that the Teda International Stadium and Tianjin Teda FC are not based in Tianjin but in this new development area, Binhai. It's over an hour from our hotel.
I dozed off to sleep but was woken with a bang. What was that crashing noise? Why has our bus ground to a halt? And what's that huge metal thing on the freeway behind us?
Turns out we have crashed into a height restriction barrier. This part of the freeway is restricted to vehicles that are lower that 2.5 metres in height. Fortunately the barrier was erected three metres above the road, otherwise more than just the airconditioning unit on the rooftop of the bus would have been shredded. We rushed outside into the sleet and realised that the barrier itself has totally toppled over, blocking the freeway behind us. Amazingly, there was no traffic behind our bus as the barrier crashed to the ground. Had there been cars in its way, they would have surely been crushed. It is also fortunate that we had just passed a freeway exit. Thus all the Binhai-bound traffic that we have just blocked has an alternative route.
It didn't take long for Charlie to become a legend to this tour group. On re-entering the bus after having surveyed the damaged, Charlie coolly grabbed the microphone and announced, 'Well, Mr Lee has just been demoted to third-best driver'. Mr Lee stepped out of the bus, flagged down a local public bus, and flung a wad of cash into its driver's palms. This, sadly, was the last that we were to see of Mr Lee. As he waved Charlie and us off and waited for the insurance company to arrive, we squashed into the public bus, standing room only. What must the locals have thought of this bedraggled, bright-yellow-clad group of foreigners? For the first time, and not the last on this trip, I heard the word laowai muttered under someone's breath. The bus reached its regular destination and dispersed its local passengers, leaving just our crew. Having arrived in Binhai way too late for the Mariners' training session, Charlie sweet-talked the driver into taking us to the Teda International Hotel where the lads were staying.
Tour organiser Phillipa Sardelic called upon her emergency supply of cigarettes. This trip via public bus was not part of the original itinerary, and Phillipa felt she had let us down. Not at all! We all took this little hitch in very good spirits. What else could we do: let it get us down? No way. This was our little trip to China, and no height-restriction barrier was going to get in our way! We thus moved onto the next item on our itinerary: the meet-and-greet with Mariners players and staff. 
The Tianjin International Hotel was a fine temporary home for the Mariners. A beautiful 5-star hotel with a real old-world feel. I certainly felt a little out-of-place here, but the Mariners made us feel very welcome. The players and officials went out of their way to chat with all the fans, and we really appreciated their efforts. They, in turn, found it hard to believe that the club has supporters who would travel halfway around the world to see the Mariners play. Get used to it, boys! We won't be the last.
A new bus and a new driver were ready to escort us back to Tianjin proper. Despite the best efforts of the local taxi drivers, zooming maniacally in and out of traffic, we managed to make it home safely.
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