Jinlong Hotel Shaoyang

... walk around it, looking for entry. This where the obvious became, well, obvious: the wall was meant to keep people OUT. Ha! Couldn't help but giggle. Ancient marauders probably didn't giggle, though. They were more concerned with death.

Eventually, we gain entry through the South Gate (again, no ticket takers), and our self-guided wall tour began.

On our way back to the hostel, we note a traffic jam. All ...

... recently dumped on little Pingyao, virtually none of the locations we visited were staffed. Thus, no-one was around to stamp our tickets. Thus, no-one was around to ensure that visitors were not playing with the displays. Bear that in mind when you view the pictures.

Lastly, in an unassuming matchbook store, we encountered these:

The store clerk commented that "Hitler was not so good." But he sells ...

... lines have doubled in size, and we're certain there's a corresponding number of Pingyao locals cursing our existence.

On the way back from our ticket adventure, we stumble on a vendor selling mouth-watering sheets of egg-y scallion bread slathered with salty chile sauce. We purchase a steaming bag of starchy goodness, inhale it (barely minus the bag), and trundle back to the hostel for some warm respite.

... 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 ...

Wutaishan was one of our greatest disasters to date.Hee and there's been a few. I booked a hostel which gave directions to Wutaishan bus station but was in fact in Nanning- a whole other provence. Oops.
Pretty place, once we'd finally checked into somewhere in our price range. It was the coldest place I've ever been. The water in the river had frozen solid! We had pot noodles in bed and tried some rice wine, (evil smelling stuff) and quickly got on a bus out of there!
Love Lucy xxx

... Hee cute!
Our Hostel was only 50cent a night!! You'd find that kind of money in the couch! Same price as a pot noodle or an overpriced bottle of water! That of course gave us incentive to stay an extra night to help boost the budget! Now we're loaded :)
We ...

My God!!
What??
That was the funniest and oddest bus I've ever been on! Firstly, It took forever to actually book at ticket! The trains were completely booked out so we dragged our backpacks to the bus station. At the station it took the usual amount of repeating and hand gesturing to get a ticket!

"Taiyuan?" "TAIyuan" "TaiYuan"

Even if you know the name of your destination there's no way in the world you'll pronounce it right. Eventually,once a ...

... we know why the stars hate paparazzi. We would be sitting in a restaurant and several photographers would have their big lenses plastered against the window to take pictures of us. Go figure. Jackson got tired of it and wanted to start charging. Not much to say at this point. I'm in Hanoi Vietnam so Pingyao is fading ........... Enjoy a few pictures

... as temples, courtyards, banks, military quarters,etc... It is undisputedly worth visiting for at least 2 days. Raised walls, stoned paths, and chinese tourists more interested in taking a picture with you than sightseeing, will give you a chaotic familiarity. Although I might've felt in a type of Chinese Disneyland, once you get into an alley drawing you away from the crowd and getting purposely lost, you feel in an ...

In Mandarin, "he" means "river" and "bei" means "north." True to its name, Hebei province lies north of the Yellow River. It also cradles Beijing. At some point in the wee morning hours, just as the sun was peeking at us over the horizon, I awoke and watched a somewhat rural landscape become urban become the sprawling megapolis of Beijing.