Pingyao: 6-8 Sep 2013

With Bo Li and Ang outside the walled town of Pingyao

Rach says:

We loved Pingyao! It's amazing. Like being in a kung-fu film according to Peter. I was wowed by the beautifully preserved ancient streets, courtyard houses with their maze-like layouts and the intricate details of the decorative tiles, wall carvings and elaborate Chinese script. The centre is ultra touristy and the streets are lined with restaurants, bars and shops (gorgeous bags and jewellery, along with some seriously gaudy tat, 'new antiques' and Mao
memorabilia), but just a couple of streets away it is undeveloped and you are in the middle of the residential area with local life happening all around.

Pingyao was so very restful compared with the hustle and bustle of Beijing and I started to feel relaxed and a bit revitalised. There was nothing to do there as such and we enjoyed leisurely days of wandering slowly, drinking beer, catching up with our journals and amazing one hour foot massages for just 3 pounds. Bliss!

Our guesthouse Tianyuankui was just perfect and we had a proper luxury room for 30 pounds a night! Check out the pics below. We slept on a traditional Northern Chinese Kang bed, which was made of stone and built into the room.

Our amazing room!

The guesthouse from outside

The restaurant/bar

Pete says:

Making friends on the train

At Taiyuan train station, we met two young agriculture students who asked us about England and helped us get the right train. They stood next to our seats the whole way. They have emailed us a few times since to ask what we are up to. After they got off, the newly married couple Bo Li and Ang ("Ellen" was how she liked to be known) said they were also heading to Pingyao for their honeymoon and would help us out. They really did help us a lot when we got off the train in a wild looking town and without them we would have had a hard time getting to the old city and our guest
house.

Pingyao New Town

Old Pingyao was really nice, we had a couple of memorable meals there - one was in a small place where we ordered and then I went to the toilet, to find it was like something from a medieval castle and no running water. Then I passed the kitchen and saw the state of the cooks hands. We tried to cancel our order but couldn't get the message across and in the end just ate it. It was incredibly delicious. Pingyao beef (salty cured meat) and rice and Gong Bao Chicken, which is spicy chicken and peanut sauce (I think we call it Kung Po in England for some reason).

The hotel was great, even if the bed was made of bricks.