Dejuyuan Folk-style Guesthouse Pingyao

... this first hand look at Chinese winter has been an experience in itself. The white blanket has made for some beautiful photos in the ancient temples, as the colourful adornments and intricate carvings pop out against the gray and white of the surroundings. Watching people deal with the weather has been unique as well. There are no snowploughs in these parts, so removal within the walled city is all done entirely by shovel. The noise of metal shovels scraping the ancient stone of the ...

Kiinassa junat ovat modernimpia kuin osasin odottaa (=kuin Venäjällä). “Soft sleeper” vastaa kupéta ja “hard sleeper” platskartaa sillä poikkeuksella, että makuupaikkoja on (pystysuunnassa) kahden sijasta kolme eikä käytävällä ole lainkaan paikkoja. Elokuu on (myös) Kiinassa kiivainta lomakautta. Yllätykseksemme emme saaneet Xianiin hard sleeper -paikkaa, joten päätimme matkustaa 12 tunnin matkan Pingyaoon hard seat -vaunussa ja ...

Took an overnight 'hard sleeper' train from Beijing to Pingyao, fairly basic, but pretty good compared to English trains. Pingyao is an ancient walled city, it's very pretty here, but heaving with tourists. I arrived at about 5.30am though, so could see it before too many tourists showed up.<br>

... was de chauffeur druk met bellen. Waarover? We konden er echt helemaal niets van begrijpen. We hoorden alleen regelmatig "Pingyao Pingyao". Dat woord kennen we. Onze angst dat deze man geen idee had waar Pingyao ligt werd steeds groter. Na ongeveer drie kwartier rijden kwamen we langs de luchthaven waar we, inmiddels ruim anderhalf uur daarvoor, waren geland. Zinloze actie dit! Een kwartiertje verder stopte de taxi. De chauffeur exuseerde zich omdat hij moest bellen. Weer ...

... Na kazdou sedacku podle vseho pripadal navic listek bez sedacky, ve vagone nebylo k hnuti, lidi sedeli vsude, v ulickach, na zachode, v umyvarne, vsude. A k tomu si kazdy tahnul kufr ci dva. Cesta byla nejakych deset hodin koncentrovane hruzy, a me fakt moc potesilo, ze jsme se vzdali meho napadu jet na listek bez sedacky. Spali jsme asi dve hodiny, vic nebylo moc realne, Radek si mirne zmrzacil kontnik, pac si nemel kam dat nohy, no des. V Pekingu jsme vystoupili opravdu radi.

You might have seen the film Raise the Red Lantern. The cool traditional buildings it was filmed in are near a little place in Shanxi province called Pingyao. Pingyao is famous for its well preserved old city. It is also famous for its wall. Impressive fortifications are, as noted elsewhere, more than reason enough for me to go just about anywhere. Unfortunately, to get there, you most likely need to travel though Taiyuan. A place I am not anxious to go back to and the place where this story ...

... a very cute English girl with us and after I found out she had spent several weeks in Yunnan Province I simply said, Aacross the bridge noodles want some? Within a millionth of a second a huge smile appeared on her face. Within the hour she, the Belgium's, Mr France and I sat happily slurping our huge bowls of Yunnan's across the bridge noodles and I must say, the Belgiums and Mr France ...

... in my room seemed to bat an eye despite how loud and smelly he was. It just seems to be normal here to be flatulent. At home I would be kicked out of the house! I attempted to go to sleep but I never came close as the sound of the train as it blew its whistle at each stop and the sound of the flatulent man never permitted me to drift off.

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... There is also the first traces of Chinese script decorating the pots, all from 20000 years ago. Then we're off north of Xi'an to the Terracotta Warrior site. The Emperor then - 2000 BC - was the first to unite China. The site was discovered in 1974 by a farmer digging a well. He is now 85 and sits and signs the books about the warriors. There is a man made hill, in which they expect to find the tomb, but haven't ecavated ...