Pingyao #3: Ancient Government Building and the City Walls

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After another great night's sleep and another great breakfast of egg on toast and homemade dumplings, I was ready to see the places I had missed the day before. I hoped that I had time to visit them all. It felt quite a bit colder than it had done the day before. The first place I decided to head to was the Newspaper Museum, which was just across the street from where I was staying. I think I was the first person to enter the museum that day as it was so quiet. I had a look around the different exhibits about newspapers in the different rooms of the building. Since everything was in Chinese, I had to rely on the pictures to know what they were about. The building that the museum was in, was really, really beautiful. I loved the dark black wood with specks of colour with the golden engraving on the wood, the ornate beams and the lanterns. It didn't take me long to look around the museum, it was also freezing inside all the rooms as they had been empty overnight and there was no heat in them.

I made my way up South Street and turned onto YaMen Street to reach the next place I wanted to visit, The Ancient Government Building. Finally, I saw a lot more tourists, it still wasn't super busy, but it was the busiest place I'd been so far in Pingyao. The government buildings were pretty large and were originally constructed in 1346, the third year of Emperor Yuanzhen during the Yuan Dynasty. However, most of the buildings that are on display now were built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. I headed through the main entrance and then made my way through the Ceremonial Gate, which is where new official were welcomed. I liked the rooms and buildings on either side of the gate, which were used to store money and grain that had been collected as taxes. There was also a wooden box that looked like a prison box, that's the only way I can describe it. I headed off to the left side of the complex first as this was the quieter looking part. I came across the prison here and it was interesting to look around it. The ball and chains on display looked very, very heavy. Then I made my way over to the other side, it was busier here. There were a few different buildings to look around and well manicured gardens. One place I'd seen when walking down the street was the Ting Yu Building, which is part of the complex, but is situated on the street. There were quite a few steps to climb to the top of the small tower, but there were great views out over the street and inside the building was some kind of shrine, and a lot of cigarettes had been left as offerings.

There were two more places that I wanted to visit that were close to the Ancient Government Building. The first was the Xi He Academy of Classical Learning, which was just down the street, as I walked I looked for the place, but couldn't find it, so I had to skip that. I continued down and around the corner and I came to the other place I wanted to visit, the former residence of Lei Lutai. This place was easier to find. It was also very quiet and there was no one else there apart from the guard. Lei Lutai was a successful banker and owned one of the earliest financial houses in China. I think I had unintentionally saved the best house for last as I really liked this place. It looked really beautiful without being over the top and I loved the Gods (that's what I think they are) that had been carved out of stone and placed on the banisters leading to the upper floors. After looking round the house, I took a walk along the quiet street that it was located on, and ended up wandering down some of the little alleyways off it that didn't look like they belonged to private residences. Down one alley, I came to some dilapidated buildings and also a set of old, unused outdoor toilets. I wouldn't like to have to use those in the middle of a cold snowy or rainy night. I'm also glad no one saw me wandering around there as they would have probably thought I was a right weird foreigner. There was one last place that I wanted to visit that was included which was the city walls. I made my way to the entrance and headed up the steps. I had a quick look at Yingxun Gate and then went for a walk along the wall. I knew that the city walls are over 6 kilometres. I was wondering if I would have time to walk it all. I need not have worried as you can only walk for about a kilometre or so along it. I enjoyed my walk along the walls although it was cold, I loved looking out over the rooftops and down into people's yards.

I was in need of some lunch by this point and just headed into the first place I came to one the main street. I think most places seem to have pretty much the same menu anyway. I was glad of the hot water on offer as it helped warm me up again. There were quite a few yummy looking dishes on the menu, and I went for the beef and potato dish as I don't know when I would have the opportunity for Pingyao beef again and this looked better than the plain beef I'd had the day before. I ordered this along with a bowl of rice. I had worried that the portion would be too big, but it wasn't. The dish was really nice, chunks of beef, potato and other vegetables in a sauce. It filled me up but didn't leave me in a food coma.

I still had some time left, so I decided to take a final walk around the Ancient City. On my first evening, I was going to take a walk along the western edge by the wall, but my stomach cramps had forced me to return to my guesthouse. I made my way along to Fengyi Gate, which is the west gate. There wasn't really much to see as I wandered along beside the city wall. It was very high and very steep and I liked the signs warning people to be careful as it is dangerous and not to linger. It was really, really quiet here and I loved peaking a look into people's courtyards and getting a glimpse at how they lived their lives. There were also a few fancy looking boutique hotels in this area. I also came across some really cool murals that showed old style Chinese warriors, I'm not sure if they were real people or from folk tales. My wandering took me down to the South Gate at the edge of the Ancient City.

I had decided to take the bus to the train station so I headed off to find the bus stop. It was about a twenty or so minute walk from the Ancient City. I purposely left pretty early as from what I could work out there was a big gap in the timetable where the buses ran very infrequently. The walk took me past the more modern parts of Pingyao and I walked past a huge school with all the students returning after what I presumed to be their lunch break. I probably had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus and the journey to the train station didn't take too long. There was a change to the scheduled route as the driver did a detour to the temple that was nearish to the train station. I would have liked to have visited the temple, but didn't really have time as it was quite a walk to the train station. The train station was pretty quiet and had no real amenities beyond bathrooms and a small convenience store, so I hunkered down with my book until it was time to board. I really enjoyed Pingyao, the Ancient City is a quaint place and I loved how quiet the streets were, it made strolling them much more enjoyable. I think if I were to visit in peak season, I may have a different view entirely.

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