4 Nights in the Best Ancient Walled City in China
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2011
1
52
195
Trip End
Feb 28, 2013
Where I stayed
Pingyao, Shanxi, China
Monday, September 19, 2011
Two Bus Rides
Qikao to Lishi then Lishi to Pingyao
8AM>>10:30 12:00>>3:30PM
SCENIC SHANXI BUS RIDES
At 7:15 we exited through the large wooden doors of the hotel and followed the river to the bridge where two buses and a minivan stood waiting. We pointed to "Lishi 离石区" in our book and were pointed to the bus in front. (We decided against taking the 5:30AM direct bus to Pingyao) We took the seat behind the driver, where there was room of our packs. Soon, Michelle relaxed with her shoes off and feet propped up and resting on the packs. She could not have been more comfortable in a Lazy Boy recliner. That blissful state came to an abrupt end after 90 minutes when the bus veered across the oncoming lane and a bus coming in the opposite direction stopped next to us (door to door). Everyone from our bus transferred to the other bus without our feet touching pavement. Now we were cramped among a spitting and smoking crowd. The bus doubled back in the direction we had just come from. Nobody was concerned so we went with the flow. Soon the bus turned left onto a new route and headed uphill through incredible beautiful terraced mountain scenery with communities hidden in the canyons. Imagine a green Grand Canyon with fantastic cave dwelling communities speckled on the mountain sides, That made us forget the dire comfort level within the bus.
We were dropped off “somewhere” in Lishi from where we knew we needed to catch another bus onward to the ancient walled city of Pingyao. We felt helpless standing there unable to communicate. People crowded around amused and curious but we were unable to understand each other. Dave busily gesticulated and pointed to Pingyao 平遥 in our book. The crowed had grown to 25 people who stretched their necks and giggled but had no answers for us. We crossed the highway to where other buses were standing. We got no help there either. Until finally a guy drove up and popped his head out of his car's window and (we assumed) he asked us where we needed to go. 'Rrr-Shur kwai’ he said while motioning with his arm up the road and around the bend. “20 Yuan ($3)”, he had said. At least we know that much Mandarin. And we deduced that he was offering us a ride to where we could get the bus to Pingyao. Yippee! He drove us about 4km to a new modern long distance bus terminal. It was 10:30 and the 11:45 Pingyao bus departed at noon. It was a four lane toll road most for most of the way. The fantastic terraced scenery continued for a while before we dropped to the broad flat plain.
600 YEAR OLD WALLS
At around 3PM, we exited the toll road following bilingual signs that read “Pingyao Ancient City”. Then we turned off route at the ‘Pingyao 500 Meters’ sign and were let off on the side of a newer city road. A 3-wheeled motorcycle taxi pulled up and took us the rest of the way to Pingyao.
We were impressed as we drove through the southwest gate (or upper west gate) of the massive city walls that date to 640 years ago. The wall is 10 meters high and more than 6 kilometers in circumference and punctuated with 72 watchtowers. The fantastic city gates are some of the best preserved, and most authentic, in China. We rode a few short blocks within the wall and reached a barrier that prevents vehicles from going further. From there, it is the core of the ancient city and only pedestrian and bicycle traffic is permitted. Everyone on foot adds to the ‘ancient’ feeling of the historic town.
We walked the last short block and a half to a lovely hotel with 2 nice court-yards. We were given Room 2, with a 3.5 meter wall-to-wall kang bed, just off the first courtyard. The room size bed left just 1.5 meters in front for our packs. The large courtyard facing window has a ledge where we could set smaller stuff. We liked it. The bathroom was one of the all-in-one 2 x 2 meter varieties with the shower over the toilet. It did have hot water and a western toilet! And the wi-fi signal reached to the room too, perfect.
GATES, TOWERS, PAPER CUT OUTS, CANDY, VINEGAR & PHOTOGRAPHERS
We explored the town within the walls. Our hotel is on the main north-south street choc-a-bloc with court-yard hotels, restaurants and plenty of souvenir shop spilling out onto the street. Michelle admired the detailed wooden lattice work and beautifully painted wooden eves. Much of the town is recently restored but a fair number of buildings still have the age old layer of dust and peeling paint.
This province in known for its vinegar and there is a great shop near Harmony House Hotel. They have 3 or 4 different "grades" and gave samples in tiny plastic cups. Michelle was soo tempted to to buy some of the rich dark sauce – great for meat marinade – but intended as a dipping sauce for dumplings. Michelle imagined using it instead of a balsamic on salads. This town is known for ginger candy. At several storefronts, big lumps of the gooey mass was being pulled and folded by hand over metal hooks. It was very tasty and extremely hot...and addicting.
The streets were crowded, mainly with Chinese tourists. Many were carrying high end SLR Cameras with massive lenses. It certainly was an ideal environment for photography, but this was over the top. We actually felt a little inadequate with just our compact digital with its tiny lens. But some of those photographers were probably lugging 20 pounds of equipment. Then we learned that there was an international photo exhibit and conference in town and photographers from all over the world were in attendance. It took us to the last day to finally getting around to seeing the photo exhibits. They had rooms and exterior spaces dedicated to featured photographer and themes. There was some of the best nature photography we have ever seen. And a famous display by an award winning photographer who has collected photographs of couples who have been married over 50 years.
One of the visiting photographers, Jeremy, is enrolled in a photography school in New York gave us some background on the conference. He also highly recommended renting an electric bicycle for the day. He was having a great time exploring the city on this emerging technology. Late in the day, Dave spotted Jeremy complaining to the bike rental lady about a problem with his e-bike. His battery had run down and he had to peddle. We ended up renting bikes too. But the old style with rusty chains, wobbly wheels and dodgy brakes. We too had to peddle our bikes.
The south gate was 150 meters to the right of hotel door where they have a pair of Qing era wagons with the stone floor with 3 inch deep ruts formed by the wheels over the years. We spent the days wandering the alleys and ancient streets and tasting local treats. The City Tower in the middle of town has a great view of the city. The steps are narrow and steep though. People watching is always fun. Michelle befriended an elderly and very stylishly dressed Belgium lady who had a different outfit on each day we saw her. We told each other she must have had several suitcases. She reminded Michelle of Mrs. Veldt, a woman she knew in Holland. She was on tour with a group-tour via the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
We were waved into a small museum (free). It was in a courtyard house with traditional style room furnished in period furniture. We were duly impressed by old calligraphy on display as well as antique porcelain and photographs. One of the old black and white photos showed the large family that once owned the place. The women’s small feet bound.
The best western breakfast in Pingyao is at “Sakura Cafe” bar and restaurant; eggs, toast, small spot of hash browns, and great coffee for 25RMB. A second cup of coffee is also 25RMB though.(Ouch)
We were treated to the sight of a wedding party arriving at our hotel. An Englishman was marrying a local girl. The large procession arrived dressed in period Chinese Traditional dress, he on a chestnut horse and she in a foot-drawn carriage. Firecrackers announce their arrival. Their party disappeared somewhere into the back of our courtyard hotel.
BLACK-MARKET TRAIN TICKETS TO XI'AN
Guoyu was the next stop on our plan. It is a smaller walled ancient city with few tourists and no hotels. But it’s also hard to get in and out of. We decided Pingyao was authentic enough and decided to bypass Guoyu. Our hotel arranges train tickets to Xi’an but we didn’t want to revisit there having been there in the 1980’s and not worth a second visit (we imagined the crowds). So we went to the train station to get tickets west to the Gansu province and would even settle for a train to the city of Lanzhou. Everything was sold out we were told by the English speaking gal at the information window. We could not even get tickets to Xi’an. We told the owner of our hotel and she said they buy the tickets on the black-market (and resell them at a 50% mark-up). Train tickets typically go on sale 10 days in advance of departure. So we imagine they have someone go in everyday and buy all available sleeper spaces during the high season. Even if they cannot sell a ticket to a tourist suckers, they can get a 90% refund of unused tickets. We ordered tickets to Xi’an from our hotel. On departure eve, we were two of six people waiting for tickets. The owner had been telling us not to worry all evening. At the 11th hour, she came over and announced she only could get 3 train tickets, but she could hold spaces for the sleeper bus that was coming through town soon for the rest. The other two couples deferred to us and let us take the train bed while they reserved space on the bus. We were given a slip of paper with our ticket info on it and put in a small motorcycle taxi to the station with another couple who did buy their own (hard seat)tickets for Xi’an at the station. For the 8 hour night time ride to Xi’an we hadn’t even considered that option. Our slip of paper was enough to get us on the train so the train staff must be in on the scam. We did not see an actual ticket until it was handed to us 30 minutes before we got off the train. It was from the actual ticket that we found out that we paid 150RMB for each 107RMB and 114RMB ticket. We were in a stuffy car with a Dutch tour group of 12. Our main consolation was the Dutch tour group probably paid a pretty penny for the crappy sleeper.
Overall we were happy with the highly recommended Harmony House hotel. Even paying the high season rate of 180 ($29) for a double was a decent value for China. The owners are outgoing and friendly and always there to help. But all our conversations evolved into them recommended their tours, their restaurant, their ticket service or their bicycle rental. They didn’t seem genuinely friendly and were a tad bit too enterprising for our liking. They did make everything very convenient and it is very pretty, historic hotel that’s a great place to hang out and meet other travelers. Yeah, we recommend staying at Harmony House
Shanxi Province is a narrow province between the new capital of Beijing and the old capital of Xi’an but still, most tourists don’t know about it. The Hanging Monastery and Buddhist Cave in the north by Datong were highlights of our visit in the late 1980’s. And now Lijaishan and Pingyao are added to our list of most China’s most memorable. Now we will more strongly recommend this province to other travelers to China.
SOME WIKI-TRAVEL NOTES ON PINGYAO
Píngyáo old town is typically considered to be the best ancient walled city in China. The old walled city is 2.6 sq. kilometers (1 sq. mile), inhabited, mostly off-limits to cars, and constructed of cobbled streets and buildings almost entirely from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The main attraction in Pingyao's walled city is - well, the city itself. i.e. - simply wandering the streets. Nearly every building dates from the Ming (1368-1644) or Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties.
City Walls. Pingyao was originally established some 2700 years ago, during the reign of King Xuan (827-782 BC) of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The original walls were made of tamped dirt and were located to the northeast of the present location. The current wall--faced with bricks and stone--was started in 1370. It is often said that the city wall is shaped like a tortoise--a traditional Chinese symbol of longevity--with the south gate and north gate representing the head and tail respectively. The east and west walls each have two additional gates, representing the tortoise's feet.
