The Old Town of Pingyao

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We arrived into the walled city of Pingyao at 6.49 in the morning and were met by a guy from the hostel. We waited a while for a friend from Xi'an to arrive but her train was late so just headed to the hostel on the back of a local taxi with the sun starting to rise. The streets were deserted at the early hour. We went for a walk along the old streets and looked into the many local shops. All of the buildings within the walls were of gray bricks with the stereotypical red lanterns hanging out into the streets. It was all very nice. We were both pretty tired after the early start having slept on the train so spent the evening in the hostel with a DVD and our books.
The following day we had a lie in before hiring bikes to go to Shuanglin temple, about 5km out of town. The temple was pretty cool with lots of statues of buddhas as well as a hall containing the judges of hell. We spent a while looking around before jumping back onto the bikes and braving the chinese traffic! It wasn't as bad as it sounds, they just don't really look when they pull out or bother to stay on the correct side of the road. We made it back to the town but found that we didn't really have much left to do as, although there were plenty of old sites to look around, you couldn't go to the individually but had to buy a ticket that got you into all 19. As the sun set we went for a small walk for some amazing photos. We had hoped to be heading to Beijing that evening but all the seats and beds were taken on the trains so we had to stay an extra night.
Our last day in Pingyao saw the weather get pretty cold again so we relaxed in the hostel before heading up the city tower, the tallest building in the city at 3 stories, for views out over the rooftops with spiraling chimney smoke as the evening set in. After grabbing some street food, a cross between a pancake and an omelette, it was time to head to the train station and start the 11hour journey to Beijing...

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Photos

A camel
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Comments

[Ali]

hey
hey steph and paul. I am so jealous reading all your wonderful travel tales, it has reignited my wanderlust!!! i can't wait to see you soon, enjoy the rest of your travels and stay safe :D love Alix

[brian from nodebtworldtravel.com]

Wonderful Shots!
Great pics from Pingyao. Continued safe travels!