Pingyao: Walled Chinese town
Trip Start
Jul 11, 2006
1
7
32
Trip End
Jun 28, 2007
Pingyao,
China
Sunday, August 27, 2006
After a nightmare, well pretty bad train journey I was glad I chose a wicked hostel. Based in an original Chinese house, it was quirky, comfortable and totally chilled out. The staff were friendly, the Internet was free and my dorm bed was up in the rafters overlooking the street.
After catching up on some much needed sleep I headed out for a wander around this quaint little town. I didn't bother with any of the tourist attraction nonsense as it was an 'all-in' ticket costing 8 quid (way too much for me as I had already spent too much cash in China!)
I wandered aimlessly around the backstreets for a few hours, before being asked "You English?". Naturally I said no, "I'm Welsh". The look of bewilderment on his face made me resort to " Yes, speak English", still upholding my Welsh roots...hehe. He (Mr Liu) was a tour guide who takes people on behind-the-scene tours of Pingyao. After a little negotiation I managed to get a 3 hour tour for about a fiver, which wasn't too bad.
50 kids to a classroom here!
He had taught himself English back in 1980 by listening to English radio for a few years! Crazy! He wasn't too bad either, even though China have stopped all English radio now...We spent 3 hours walking around the town, stopping off for a chat with one of his friends who made jumpers. Then we headed to the doctor's surgery where you could see the doctor checking the pulse of every patient, before prescribing a bundle of natural remedies, all whilst smoking like a trooper. Next we headed over to the school and wandered around inside. They have 50 students to a class here! and the school day runs from 9 until 7! Now that's China for you...
We then headed over to see a friend of his who was cooking up a huge pan of live scorpions. The smell was revolting, but when I tasted them in Beijing they weren't too bad... Afterwards we stopped off at another friend's place where everyone wanted to know what I was up to, how was I finding China, and what did I think about the way the Government runs the country...hmmm.
All in all it was a great way to spend a few hours. Although I missed the tourist stuff, the private tour more than made up for it. Who can say they had a private tour around Pingyao, taking in the doctor's surgery, school, the backstreets and the rooftops!
There wasn't much else for me to see in Pingyao so I sorted out a sleeper train to Xi'an for the following day. Good job really as the day I was leaving it raining constantly and I couldn't have done anything anyway.
Next stop Xi'an, the home of the 8th Wonder of the World (well that's what the Chinese claim...)
