Blogs from Pingyao, Shanxi, China, Asia - page 9

There was a problem at the train station in Luoyang and all they could afford me was a standing ticket. Standing, or at best, curling up on my backpack in the doorway between cars travelling an 11-hour night train sounded a little daunting but I didn't feel too worried. It was in fact easy to find a free soft seat and once aboard, the conductors weren't the least bothered to check tickets. I sat up the first few hours learning language and dialect differences with my neighbours, a computer programmer from Hong Kong and three young people from Guandong. I read through the young girl's girlie magazine and impressed her with my poor knowledge of Chinese script. The train pulled into Pingyao shortly after 7 am. No chance I was going to miss it. My ever ... read more

We got to Pingyao a little ahead of schedule on Saturday morning. We had to take the hard sleeper. The beds are soft but I think they're called that cos it's so hard to get to sleep on them. There are no compartments, just an open carriage with bunks stacked at three levels high. Wasnt too bad, but not quite first class Trans Siberian. The worst thing was the spitting and constant stream of people to the toilet which was near our beds because we were at the end of the carriage. We were collected from the train station by a tuk-tuk driver from the Yamen Hostel. Getting a pickup at the station makes things so much easier, a habit we've picked up from Felix the French-Canadian. Pingyao is the old merchant and banking capital of ... read more

Hello everyone, I am still having an amazing time here in China!! :) since I last wrote I have been to a really lovely town called Pingyao, which is about 1-2 hours on the bus from Tiayuan. When we got there the bus stopped and we were instructed to get off where we were duly instructed to follow this guy where we would find "cheap hotel" so we followed him for a bit and just kept him hanging while we went from place to place negotiating the best price as we had 7 of us we have found that the best way. we eventually found a fantastic place with really comfortable beds and a really nice court yard just outside. we then had some lunch before going for a wander around the city. the city was ... read more

Maandag 16 oktober. Rond 6.30 u na een relatief rustige nacht in de slaaptrein kwamen we in Xi’an aan. Even voor het uitstappen kregen we ons echt treinticket inruil voor het voorlopige van de vorige, spannende avond. We konden namelijk op het laatste moment dankzij een aantal telefoontjes van een hoteljuffrouw de laatste 3 tickets, nodig om allemaal op de trein te geraken, bekomen. Het treinpersoneel is hoofdzakelijk vrouwelijk. Op de trein kan je heet water krijgen, men komt er ook rond met fruit, eten en drinken. Het regende in Xi’an. Tussen een zee van zwartharige Chinezen vonden we de chauffeur van het Han Tang Youth Hotel (vooraf door Berna en Wim besproken). Xi’an betekent: Westerse Vrede. De stad telt ongeveer 3 miljoen inwoners en is het centrum van de provincie Shaanxi. Het Wei-dal waarin Xi’an ... read more

Vervoer: We kwamen te Pingyao toe vanuit Taiyuan. Taiyuan was een tussenstop vanuit Taihuai (Wutaishan). Taihuai - Taiyuan: 70Y, maar het had 50Y kunnen zijn, 4 uur + 1 uur ronselen. Een taxi in Taiyuan kostte 9Y (instap prijs). De bus Taiyuan - Pingyao kostte 25Y en deed er 2 uur over. We reisden vanuit Pingyao door naar Xi’an met de nachttrein. Het bekomen van tiketten heeft ons veel moeite gekost. We probeerden eerst zelf in het treinstation van Taiyuan. Daar moet je aan een speciaal loket zijn, omdat je niet in Taiyuan opstapt. Dit loket was gesloten tussen 12h en 13h30. We probeerden ondertussen in 2 andere kantoren in de stad: datgene dat vermeld wordt in de Lonely Planet was dicht tijdens de middag, en het andere mocht geen tiketten verkopen met opstap buiten ... read more