Pingyao - A charming ancient city

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Day 480: Thursday 22nd October - Finally getting out of the city for an ancient Chinese town

I think one of the reasons that I haven’t enjoyed my second visit to China as much as my first (apart from the weather not being as good) is that I’ve almost exclusively spent my time in cities. Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Tunxi, Chengdu, Xian, Luoyang.....nearly all huge cities of several million, choking with traffic, people and smog. I’m no city person and the only place where I haven’t stayed in the city was visiting Emei Shan and travelling up the Yangtze by boat. I think the reason I’m looking forward to Pingyao so much is that it isn’t a city. Well it is but it isn’t but it is a nice place to stay....read on and I’ll explain.

I arrive in Pingyao at 8am, 2 hours after scheduled. My free pick up isn’t at the station presumably because my train was late so I call them. They say they’ll be a few minutes but when a guy approaches me with a leaflet for the hostel after 10 minutes of waiting I’m unsure if this is my free pick-up or a tout. We don’t have much success communicating so I get in his vehicle regardless. My concerns aren’t helped when he first takes me to another hotel and then asks for 20 Yuan. It isn’t a 20 Yuan journey for a start, more like 5, but I haven’t any intention of giving him any money. I don’t need to when we finally arrive at the hostel, they sort it out but it was all a bit strange.

The hostel I am staying at - Yamen hostel -is a former Ming residence (The Ming Dynasty dates from 1368-1644) and was actually the Governor’s house. Pingyao is one of the few remaining towns in China that have architecture dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties (pre 1911). The Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s saw much of the ‘old China’ eliminated but Pingyao escaped. Inside the city walls is a charming old city which feels more like a laid back town, free from the ills that plague most Chinese cities I’ve been too - namely choking traffic, repetitive and dull high rise buildings and litter aplenty.

There are a friendly bunch of people in the common area of the hostel when I arrive - John from London and Trish and Rob sister and brother from California. They ask me if I want to join them walking around the city but after the overnight journey I’m happy at taking things at a more leisurely pace, and hang about the hostel for a while longer just chilling out. That isn’t an issue as Pingyao isn’t a place that you need to rush around as the old city is compact enough to walk around in a few hours.

I commit my only error whilst in Pingyao as soon as I leave the hostel to walk around the old city. I buy a ticket which covers all the sights in the old city for 120 Yuan (£11). You can walk around the old city for free but to climb the walls and to go inside most of the historic buildings you need the combined ticket. However, the joy of Pingyao is just wandering around the city’s streets, admiring architecture dating back at least 100 years to Dynastic China, enjoying a city with the feel of a small town where modernisation has thankfully passed it by and watching the locals take pleasure in the simple things in life. Pingyao is like experiencing China 100 years ago without the need for time travel.

I start my walk around the old city at the government offices which is a yawn. Add to that the Rishengchang Financial House (China’s first bank in 1823), a former residency of the bank’s manager and a Taoist temple and the 120 Yuan was poor value for money. Instead, wandering the old streets particularly when you get off the main streets and you can’t help but enjoy the charm of Pingyao. My first walk around the city is only a few hours long but I return in the late afternoon hoping to see the sunrise from the city walls. I walk about a quarter of the way around and am not particularly struck by the sunset which sets over the new city but rather the smells and sounds from the old city below which is in full flow as people start to prepare evening meals.

I get dinner with the three I met this morning plus an Israeli guy. Pingyao beef is the speciality but is very reminiscent of corned beef which I don’t think I’d be promoting too heavily as a speciality! After the meal I help Trish with her Southeast Asia plans and then share a beer with John. I think he has found the start of his China trip tough going and I urge him to stick at it. The first week in any country is always the hardest as everything is new and you can’t really hang on to much familiarity as a comfort. It has me thinking that I am a seasoned traveller now, but it is nice to give travel advice and support to fellow travellers. I’ve been a recipient a few times and it is nice to give something back.

Day 481: Friday 23rd October - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of travelling by train in China

My train doesn’t leave Pingyao until one in the afternoon so that allows me a relaxing morning. On my journey to Beijing I see what I will call the good, the bad and the ugly of making a trip by train in China. First the good. In the station in Pingyao, I am the subject of much curiosity from some elderly Chinese people. They keep chatting away to me but I can’t communicate other than to say where I’m from, where I’m going and how old I am. There’s a few smiles and waves though as I get on to the train. I’d like to think I brought a bit of light into their world and their experience of the strange laowai (foreigner) was a positive one despite the communication difficulties. I always feel like I am representing my country when I am travelling, and of course I hope I am projecting a good impression. I love the curiosity of the Chinese in foreigners and of course I love playing up to it!

Good impressions is not a word (or two words!) that you could give to the feelings aroused when I try to get on the train to Taiyuan. I stand in line waiting for the train to pull up and as soon as it does I am pushed past, barged out of the way by a crowd of impatient Chinese desperate to claim the best spots on the train. I’m bigger than most of them and with the weight of my bag on my back probably packing more weight than any of them. If I wanted to push my way to the front I could but I’m British and have been brought up to queue in an orderly fashion and offer respect and courtesy to those around me. If I get on last (which I do) then so be it. What did those people succeed in doing that beat me on to the train by pushing past me? Nothing, they probably had to stand like I did for the one and a half hour journey to Taiyuan as the carriage was already full. They also helped solidify the bad impression I have generally of the Chinese every time I have travelled by train. The bad continues on the train as I passive smoke about two packets worth of cigarettes in an hour and a half.

Waiting for the train in Taiyuan I am treated (wrong word but I’ll use it nevertheless) to the ugly. For some unknown reason to me the Chinese dress their young children in trousers/pants which have a hole in the backside to presumably allow them easy access if they need to go to the toilet. I’ve not come across this anywhere on my travels and I think it does nothing for a child’s dignity when their backside is on full view and it isn’t a pleasant site when you see small kids being held up whilst they go to the toilet in the middle of the street. But I’m not in the middle of the street I’m in a train station. It still doesn’t stop the parents of the child allowing and then encouraging the child to urinate all over the floor of the waiting hall in the train station despite the toilet being only 50 metres away. Lazy parenting, unhygienic, not a pleasant sight and my final word on it is those kiddies pants are a stupid idea............ China...sort it out!!

It is three and a half hours from Taiyuan to Beijing. I have to get rid of a stupid guy who is sat in my seat when I get on the train. He is in the wrong carriage never mind the wrong seat......either illiterate or lazy. When I arrive in Beijing I have several options to get to my hostel none of them appealing so I end up spending the best part of an hour wandering around the station hoping for something to work out. The taxi queue is huge, I can’t find the bus which I need to take at either of the exits from the station and can’t read the bus directory which is only in Chinese so I admit defeat and go and stand patiently in the taxi queue.

My hostel is not far from Tiananmen Square and I make sure I start my Tibet enquiries as soon as I get there. It won’t be sorted out today but I do meet Noodles (!!) who it looks like I will be dealing with at the hostel. In the last 24 hours the shape of the group has changed. One Austrian girl who I thought was interested has dropped out only to be replaced by a Italian/French (??) guy who phoned me this morning in response to the note I left in Chengdu. He seems very interested, so it looks like we’re back up to a group of 4, my preferred number. And it is arranging a trip to Tibet which is the priority during my time in Beijing. Of course I’m looking forward to seeing the city and the nearby Great Wall but they will take care of themselves whilst Tibet needs a bit of work and organisation.

Beijing marks a starting point for me. I think this is more mental than anything real. Since I arrived back in China I travelled 1600km west from Shanghai and now 2000km north-east from Chengdu. A lot of travelling and I’ve passed through a dozen of China’s provinces and municipalities since my return. There have seen some nice places - the second day on Emei Shan probably stands out as the highlight but no place has reached the magic of my first visit to China. But, I never thought it would, and after travelling for so long you have a feeling what you will really enjoy and what will just be okay. Beijing is a starting point because the three weeks or so that remain of my China trip excite me hugely. Who couldn’t get excited by seeing the Forbidden City, The Great Wall, a trip to Inner Mongolia and then mystical Tibet? The last four weeks have all be leading up to this climax which I hope I haven’t set the bar too high in expectation but nevertheless one I’m really excited about. It isn’t just China that really excites me it is the remainder of my trip. Beijing marks the start of the final straight.......just how long that final straight is remains to be seen...............

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