Blogs from Pingyao, Shanxi, China, Asia - page 7

Neil: We've now left Beijing and arrived in a small town called Pingyao - an ancient town with a 6.7km wall surrounding the old part - very nice! First though, a word about taxi drivers. In India and most of China, they are all over the place. India especially, you get pestered by them all the time offering their services. It becomes a real pain at times. When we left Beijing, we decided to take the underground and then a taxi to the train station. When we got off the underground, we hunted for a taxi and managed to flag one down but to our surprise he refused to take us to the train station. We still had 30 mins before the train left so we waited and flagged a second taxt down. He also refused ... read more

nach dem gestrigen franzoesischen ein- nun ein deutscher nachtrag. wir hoffen es geht euch allen gut und ihr habt die festivitaeten der letzten woche gut ueberstanden. wie ihr ja schon wisst haben wir weihnachten in dem tibetischen dorf xiahe verbracht. Ahhh...Tibet!! Man kann suechtig werden nach all den Farben, Klaengen und Eindruecken! Moenche in pink-rot-braunen Roben bestimmen das Bild - alles voll - ueberall eine Explosion in Pink. Daneben, dazwischen, dabei bewegt sich die vornehmlich tibetische Bevoelkerung in ihren eindrucksvollen Maenteln, behangen mit buntem, Schmuck und klappernden Gebetsketten. Den Mittelpunkt von Xiahe bildet das Labrang Kloster, eines der vier wichtigsten Kloester in Tibet (yellow hat sect). Auch wenn Xiahe nach chinesischer Auffassung eindeutig in China liegt, ist fuer die Tibeter klar: Wir sind in Tibet! Tatsaechlich erinnert hier wenig an Ch... read more

After much debate and discussion between us and the hostel staff we took the easy option of a £2 taxi ride to the monolithic Beijing West railway station rather than the 30p metro ride and 1 hour walk option! The usual push and shove later to get on the train - which we are becoming more accomplished at - we found our middle hard sleeper beds only to be confronted by the most grumpy and cantankerous old woman we have ever come across. She huffed at everyone and everything - Neil got an angry mouthful in Mandarin because his duvet touched the table next to her bed! The train journey went smoothly and we got a full night's sleep due to the fact our feet weren't hanging off the end of the bunk (like the top ... read more

From Beijing, we carried along on our travels via Pingyao. We had seen on a Chinese travel programme how lovely this place was. With waterways used instead of roads, traditional houses and it reminded us of how Venice must be like (Hey we've not been there!). So we thought we'd go,as it looked so unique. So we booked our 6 hour bus journey and off we went. HOWEVER, when we arrived there were no waterways, infact there weren't any rivers or streams in sight! On arrival we jumped into a motor rickshaw type of vehicle and were faced with a high walled city, ancient narrow pedestrain streets, and masses of Chinese tourists. A truely special and amazing place, but we were a little confused! The traditional chinese accomodation was unique and spaceous. See the photos. We ... read more

www.diariodeunviaje.com (todo en nuestra pagina web) A las 7:30 llegamos a Taiyuan. Cogemos el autobus 611 (1,5¥) hasta la estacion de autobuses y alli cogemos un autobus hasta Pingyao (25¥) que tarda 2 horas (100km). Nos deja en las afueras y en un mototaxi (20¥) vamos al Harmony Hostel, donde dejamos las mochilas y reservamos los billetes de tren a Xian a la 1:40 de la noche (80¥+20¥ comision). A continuacion alquilamos unas bicis (10¥/bici) y nos vamos a recorrer la ciudad amurallada. Es peqeña y en tres horas nos la hemos recorrido de cabo a rabo. Patrimonio de la UNESCO, Pingao es una de las ciudades mejor conservadas del Norte de China, posiblemente sea la única que conserva de forma completa no sólo la muralla original, sino la estructura de sus barrios, calles y casas ... read more