Back in Shanghai

Arrived back in Shanghai yesterday evening. We had a very hard time trying to buy train tickets from Pingyao back to Shanghai. As the days progressed we kept being told to try tonight, try tommorow morning, and so on. We actually tried to buy all of the tickets in Beijing. But from there you can only buy tickets from Beijing to your destination. It's much easier to get a seat or a hardsleeper ticket - but we're not going 24hrs on a train like that!

Considering we're flying to Japan on the 8th, and especially considering the train takes 24hours from Pingyao to Shanghai and there is no gaurantee of getting tickets, we had little choice but to opt for a flight. We couldnt book flights from Pingyao so decided to head off to the nearest airport as soon as we could after our tour of Pingyao with Mr Liu. With his help (including several people chasing and stopping the bus which had already headed off) we jumped onto a bus headed for the difficult-to-pronounce city of Tauyuan.

I believe this area - Shaanxi Province - is a very large producer of coal. The state of the atmosphere really shows it. I've never been in such a polluted environment. Visibility is little more than maybe a kilometer. The air has more of a gritty, sooty smell than a carbon monoxide car-pollution one. During what should be a clear sunny day the sky is basically white - very bright on the eyes. Also very hard to take decent photos as well, I guess due to the highly diffused white light. This was the case in Pingyao, but in Tauyuan it seemed much more dense.

Hopped off at the bus depot in Tauyuan after a two hour ride armed with Mr Liu's handwritten instruction for the taxi driver, and after a short drive found ourselves at the airport.

We're going to take it easy in Shanghai - recharge the batteries in preparation for Japan.

Pingyao - with Mr Liu

4 - 7 - 6

Pingyao - Shuanglin Temple

3 -7 - 6

Pingyao - Day 1 - Streets

2 - 7 - 6

After a decent overnight train ride from Beijing arrived in the town of Pingyao at about 7am I think. The promised pickup wasn't present at the train station so just jumped in a taxi.

At first the streets seemed pretty normal (modern) to us, but soon around a corner we saw an ancient wall, and within a few minutes we were driving through a gate in it.

Pingyao has two quite different sides. The old town and the new town, or as alot of locals seemed to say - inside the wall, and outside the wall. The wall itself and the town within, are a UNESCO world heritage site. Built during the Ming Dynasty which was from 1300 - 1600 I think, most of the town and its wall are very well preserved. I have never seen so much stone (well not since Angkor!). The walls, the road, the roofs, everything. Very little in the way of anything green. At times it felt like we were in some dark working class part of England during the industrial revolution. The gritty and polluted air from nearby coal mines really helped create that atmosphere! I wouldnt say a pretty environment - but definately a very interesting one, and also quite different to anywhere else we have been. The ancient brick buildings are packed right up to each other.


While we were driving in our taxi the driver slowed down and talk to a passing moto driver. Actually in Pingyao they have a type of tuktuk - a three wheeled motorbike with three rows of seats. Not sure what they call them in China so I'll just call it a tuk tuk. Very quiet so must have electric motors. Anyway, the taxi driver stopped to talk to this tuktuk driver who was headin the other way and during the short conversation the other driver unfolds a large piece of paper saying "Yamen Hostel Free Pickup". He was running late to the train station! Quite funny in hindsight considering we were virtually the only guests at the hostel in the 2 days we were there.

After settling into our hostel - which like many of the buildings within the wall is an original Ming building - we decided to take a stroll around. After walking maybe 15mins, to get a quicker perspective on the town layout we jumped onto a tuktuk and paid I think 15Yuan (about 3$NZ) for a ride around the inside of the wall and through some of the alleys.


Expectedly, much of what we saw in the town was quite tourist directed. Craft and antique stores, hotels, restaurants etc. This stuff was on the 2 or 3 main streets. Off these streets and into the many narrow brick alleys however, it seemed that life was going on quite independently of tourism. Walking these alleys we could see into courtyards and front/back yards. Some people were living in very dirty and obviously quite simple conditions. Many other aspects also pointed to much older times - a donkey and cart, and wood burning ovens for example.

WHAT IS IT ?

Taken outside the forbidden city, Beijing.