Rustic China: Cobblestone Alleys and Red Laterns

Asia » China » Shanxi » Pingyao
July 3rd 2015

Published: September 4th 2015

One of the most preserved ancient cities and walled areas in all of China. When you try to imagine traditional China you may conjure up images of small cobblestone alleyways, quaint brick buildings with curved tiled roofs and dangling red lanterns bringing colour and vibrancy to these streets. This is exactly what you can expect to find in Pingyao. Well known as the place to go if you want to see ... Read Full Entry

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CrispyLife

mikesrtw

Hi we're Chris and P. We have quit our jobs and sold our house to follow our dream of travelling around the world for 12 months!!! Let’s jump back about 2 years - We're driving to P's friend’s house for an evening meal when she turns and says "I've been thinking..." And what a thought that was indeed. That thought turned into buying a dilapidated property and spending a total of 2 years 'doing it up' ourselves coupled with a new job and a wedding thrown into the mix for good measure. We even questioned ourselves at times on whether travelling would actually become a reality or be j... full info

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4th September 2015

Dancing Dave
David Hooper

Memories of Pingyao
Gotta say I'm impressed your research is taking you to some wonderful highlights of China. We were in Pingyao one icy winter and the differences of our experience to yours are stark. Streets and courtyards, curved roofs, steamed breads, locals staring, walking on the wall were there, but we had ice everywhere and only a handful of tourists. Your pics show the glow of warm weather and red lanterns aplenty while ours show the gaunt of winter. The man with the golf buggy taking us to our hotel, that slid on the ice and slammed into a wall with us on it, took us to Yamen Hotel insisting Yamen was our hotel when I knew it wasn't. Your blog & great pics bring back fabulous memories. What a trip you are having! Please tell me...did you sleep on a kang bed in Pingyao?

5th September 2015

mikesrtw
CrispyLife

Memories of Pingyao
Wow, it does sound like a dreamy place to go in the winter. Truth be told we actually saw an image of pingyao in the winter and knew we had to go. Arriving in the middle of summer however was a little disappointing. Golf buggies and ice sounds like a terrible combination, glad you survived to tell the tale!!

5th September 2015

mikesrtw
CrispyLife

Memories of Pingyao
Kang beds are completely new to us. Guess the warm weather didn't warrant one. Sounds like an experience though!

4th September 2015

Dancing Dave
David Hooper

Rustic Doorway
Every country has doorways...but none do rustic doorways like China. Great pic.

5th September 2015

mikesrtw
CrispyLife

Rustic doorway.
Its true. P especially loves a good rustic door picture. We took far to many in the end. But looking back at these pictures is a nice reminder of the quaint alleys!

6th September 2015

RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew

Lighting
I love the light in this photo! Just wondering how you are going to sort all your fabulous photos when you get home ;)

9th September 2015

mikesrtw
CrispyLife

Lighting
Thank you. Early morning light can be really nice to capture. Too mamy photos. One of the pitfalls of long term travelling. Hopefully it won't be too difficult as we sort them out as we go along for the blog (another great reason to write a blog) so we have a bunch of 20-40 pictures for most places already. Rather than a bunch of 200-400 good and bad pictures we start off with. Would not ever get round to sorting our pictures out otherwise. Will however need to choose the ones to be framed....That'l be a task. Maybe we'll create a funky framed wall?? ?

6th September 2015

nancic123
Nanci and David Curry

Amazing!
What an amazing trip you guys are having! You continue to take us to places that not only have we not been to, we have not even heard of! It is so fascinating reading of your adventures. We enjoy it so much when we actually feel we are blending in to a local community and not being noticed anymore, that it made us cringe to think of being stared at and even photographed continuously. Perhaps they are just curious (like we are as travelers, too) but I think I would have my limits for sure. I didn't envy your 19 hours on a train. I felt worn out just imagining it. Great pictures and blog, as always! Thanks for taking us along on your amazing trip!

9th September 2015

mikesrtw
CrispyLife

Amazing.
Thank you for your lovely comment. Its great to hear that they take you on our travels with us. Some blogs read well others don't so we ask ourselves whether we are boring people. We're not bored at all. Trains in China are really not that bad. In sleeper class in India however..very different. Yes they're only curious. There cultural norms are very different from ours. Guess for them its not really rude. For us, that is a big no no. Lol.

6th September 2015

taracloud
Tara Cloud

Staring
It seems that while we consider staring rude, perhaps it just isn't for the Chinese, just as some cultures spit and belch while others don't. You two are handling this annoying behavior remarkably well! The city sounds charming--a bit of Chinese Disneyland. Can't wait to hear of your next wild adventure!

9th September 2015

mikesrtw
CrispyLife

Staring
Haha. I agree its completely the opposite to rude for them. Some cultural norms we encountered were very different from ours. Still made the experience exciting. We were some sort of celebrities for a month. China was a great place. Think one of my favourites so far. (I know I say that about everywhere, just love travelling). ?

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Rustic China: Cobblestone Alleys and Red Laterns

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