Pingyao

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January 17th 2008

Published: January 19th 2008

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skeogan

Pingyao

Outter Wall

The CITS in Datong had booked us into a hostel named Tianyuankui Kezhan, and a representative from there met us at the train station, good start! We were brought to this very nice guest house, very well laid out with all mod cons. We were led then to a room, which was a 2 bed dorm with a private shower, a PC and free internet! This was not your typical backpackers joint and we feared the worst. Turns out that because we'd booked through the CITS we were entitled to a discount, and the room was only 60Y per person, RESULT!

Pingyao is an ancient walled city with a population of about 40,000 people. The walls perimeter is about 7km and is completely intact. There are shell marks from the Japanese attacks in the second world war.

The city itself is preserved in the old Chinese style and is full of museums and temples. At one stage this was a thriving merchant town, actually setting up China's first banks. Which is a bit odd considering there is none in it now! Not one ATM even. Pingyao is very tourist orientated and there is good information available. We bought a

Pingyao

ticket that was valid for a few days and entitled us to visit any attraction in the town. Its not the most exciting of places but ideal if you want to kick back for a couple of days.

One of the more interesting spots is an old prison museum. It seems to have doubled up as a court as well. You could walk around the gardens and got a close up of some of the tools of torture, gruesome stuff but very interesting. There were some look out towers where you could get some great views of the city.

We hired bikes from the guest house and decided to look around. Firstly we cycled out of town to Shangualin temple, which is about 7 km outside the town. The temple is nice enough to have a look around, but the entrance fee is quite extortionist for this part of the world. After this we decided to cycle into the countryside for a bit. It was really good to see how the locals go about their daily lives. The villages were quite basic, with a strong emphasis on crops like corn and rice.

Again we got a lesson

Pingyao

Structures

in how interested locals can become of westerners, but it was in a nice way. We were cycling by a school and the kids sprinted out to meet us. They really surprised us with their level of English and they stood and chatted away for a few minutes.

The girls at the guest house were really nice and always up for a laugh. They worked criminal hours, 6.00 am until 10.00 pm, 7 days a week! But they were always in good form and they got on really well with the girls, looking at photographs and the like. When we were leaving they presented us with a set of chopsticks and arranged free transport to the train stations.

This entry isn't the most interesting, but we did have a nice time here and I would recommend the place for a few days. People are nice and for a spot to chill out it was perfect.

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