From Tianjin to Beijing

The trip back to Beijing from TEDA was an interesting one. Our 1st clue that it was going to be an eventful journey was when we were cruising down the 3-lane expressway towards the toll gate and noticed a car coming at us in the left lane. Then a line of trucks stopped in the right lane, and finally a steady stream of traffic coming at us in the left lane. It turns out the freeway was closed for vehicles from Tianjin going into Beijing due to the upcoming political meetings due to occur the following week. The China People's Congress was due to hold meetings to select new political leaders as part of the 2008 Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (interestingly, that topic was deleted from Wikipedia). Our driver had not filed the correct paperwork - or even known that he was supposed to. At the next attempted expressway to Beijing, we were directed to a third route - and told we wouldn't be able to get any further than 6th ring road (our hotel was inside 3rd ring road). The alternate alternate route took us on the back roads into Beijing - which were also under construction. Other unexpected sights on the back roads included whole flocks of sheep crossing the road in front of us. At one point, we crossed a river on a bridge made of 4" pine logs! On the back roads, we were required to go through 2 security check points, but were able to drive into Beijing all the way to our hotel. The 2 hour trip took 4.5 hours, but was worth the experience!