Blogs from Shanxi, China, Asia - page 2

Après un dernier jour à Pekin particulièrement penible (chaud, lourd et humide) nous avons quitté Pekin par la route Le voyage s'est très bien passé , l'hôtel à l'arrivée a l'air tout neuf ( au milieu de chantiers d'ailleurs) et très central par rapport aux temples principaux. Pour le "lourdes" chinois on est bien en revanche pour la montagne autour la météo n'est pas avec nous : on ne voit pas les sommets On fait le plein de fraîcheur et de vie sans clim, c'est une compensation suffisante... read more

Vandaag onderweg naar Pingyao, ong 400 km rijden vanaf Datong. Het zonnetje schijnt lekker dus onderweg hebben we mooi zicht op het landschap. Soms zien we ook nog stukken van de chinese muur bovenop de bergtoppen. Onderweg vlakbij Pingyao zijn we nog even het landgoed gaan bekijken waar vroeger een of andere rijke chinees had gewoond. Toen we in Pingyao aankwamen werden we aan de rand van de stad bij de stadsmuur afgezet en door de hoteleigenaar afgehaald. Vanuit hier naar het hotel gelopen. Het hotel was heel oud en we hadden zo'n typisch chinese kamer, heel mooi. Toen besloten we om het stadje in te gaan lopen en toen schrokken wij ons kapot. Overal van die elektrische golfkarretjes die overal doorheen scheurden en alleen maar souvenierwinkels. Het stadje is nog heel authentiek maar door deze ... read more

Two bullet trains from Luoyang longmen via Xian bei, a short taxi ride and we walk through the gates of Pingyao city wall and back in time 500 years. It was like being on the film set of crouching tiger hidden hippo. we did attempt to try to find our hotel our selves but after no-one knew where it was we gave up and jumped on one of the electric buggys that flit around the old city. He took us on a tour of Pingyao as he couldn't find it either. Eventually we got there.It was a courtyard hotel and like stepping into the past although a 21th century mattress would have been nice along with some heating. We spent a couple of days here just chilling in some of the bars and cafe's and wandering ... read more

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 the real China. Howevera throw in a load of tourism to what China may have been like and you have Pingyao. From Langmusi we caught an overnight hard sleeper train to Pingyao taking around 19hrs. We always appear to be the only western people on these trains and it's like we are some sort of star attraction with people coming from different carriages to look ... read more

From there our driver was taking us to see Muta, a five story wooden pagoda which is the worlds oldest and tallest wooden pagoda. It is 67 metres tall and was standing in the midst of a large open area which added to it's impact. It was built without any nails in 1056 and has very little colour on it. Only the bottom floor is open for viewing now - the clay Buddha in this floor was 11 metres high and sitting under a beautiful conical shaped ceiling. We were pleased the hotel had suggested we visit the site as it wasn't one we probably would have bothered with. Surrounded by the usual souvenir stalls, they were at least quite a long way from the pagoda, not shouldering it as is normal. We left the site ... read more