5 - 6 June: 平遥 Pingyao, Central Shanxi Province: Part 1 of 2
Our Hotel: 一得客栈 Yide Hotel
The driver took us to the 一得客栈 Yide Hotel which is in a small alley, not far away from the main street at all.
The guesthouse was a renovated courtyard house built in 1736 by a wealthy merchant during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Annie, one of the owners, was a wonderfully helpful and friendly host who arranged for our airport pick-up and also was generally extremely attentive. Our room could technically fit three people. Here's the spare bed that was in our room.
Here was our bed - it's what's called a Kang bed (土炕). A The Kang bed is a traditional sleeping platform made of bricks (or other types of fired clay). Its interior cavity, leading to a flue, channels the exhaust from a wood or coal stove. Although it might take several hours of heating to reach the desired surface temperature, a properly designed bed raised to sufficient temperature should remain warm throughout the night without the need to maintain a fire.
As we went in summer, there was no need to test out the Kang bed. I would imagine that the Canadian would have been very relucant to sleep in a bed under which a fire had been lit ;)
Entrance to our courtyard - they locked it at around 10pm, although you just had to knock to be let in :)
Here was our room
Here's where we had breakfast in the mornings.
The Canadian's photo of my elbowthe entrance area
Some photos from around the restaurant. It really was a very charming setting in which to have breakfast.
Street near our hotel
平遥古城 The Wall of Pingyao
Annie from our hotel told us that a wall walk around the entire wall would take 6km. Unfortunately, you're only supposed to ascend and descend at certain points, so we were only able to do 3/4 of the entire wall - but that was still pretty cool.
The ancient city walls of Pingyao ... kinda looks like a prison!
Cannons to keep out invaders.
If you look down, you can still see the heavy rocks, intended for throwing down on invaders.
The Canadian in blatant contravention of the 'No Striding' on the wall directive.
Outside the wall - the remains of the moat.
These days, there are no invaders - just hordes of shops and vendors. Equally scary and determined in their own way.
We felt very voyeuristic while doing our Wall Walk because we could see down and observe people on the roads and in their courtyards without them even knowing we were doing so! Here's a man taking his wife for a little ride
Old lady out for a walk. Watching her progress was quite fun
Three on a moped.
Looking down a lane.
The roof-tops were quite interesting. Some had the traditional Chinese roof - but others had what looked like a little courtyard or patio on top.
Close-up
Juxtaposition of the old and the new
Ancient Chinese cities all used to have walls like Pingyao's - even Beijing. Unfortunately, they've been torn down in other cities and only the names remain like Front Gate, West Gate etc. I wish Beijing could have kept its wall and perhaps just built throughways.
These appear to be only very interim measures on these roof-tops
The wall appears to crumbling, hence these repairs that we saw - and this strange structure weighted down with sandbags.
Rooftops.
The Canadian liked the little chimneys.
Glimpses of the main street.
A reminder of the original purpose of the wall - to keep invaders out.
We continued our walk. This little old lady was trying to get out of her courtyard but couldn't get the door open.
Cat on a hot brick roof.
Dates being dried on a roof.
From the wall we could see this woman doing laundry in her courtyard.
This man was fixing his glasses.
Outside the wall, this guy was riding on top of the coal!
Only some points of the wall had people - for most of our walk, we felt as though we had the whole wall to ourselves
Rather cool-looking gardens
At this point of the wall, there were quite a few tour-groups and we were jostled.
So we set off at a brisk walk to try to leave the tour-groups behind us.
Another yard.
Some welcome shade on the wall - it was a very hot day.
On the city-side of the wall, you can see that the dirt is crumbling.
The path as we left the wall.
The wall SHOULD look like this.
But alas, much of the inside section is starting to look like this
Streets of Pingyao
The streets of Pingyao are very interesting.
BeijingPingyao Belly
Regrettably, unlike other ancient towns, they don't close off most of the town to vehicles. Lazy tourists are carted around on golf carts like this one. The carts also double as beds for sleepy drivers.
For some reason these guys decided to play cards in the middle of the street.
We discovered this little boy tethered up in front of a clothing shop. You'll see he's wearing the same clothes as the mannequin.
He's smiling - and after further inquiry we discovered that he'd tied himself there for a joke, to the amusement of his mother.
This little kid with the cap containing a solar-powered fan and shades posed for the camera
Gate
BeijingPingyao Belly
Chop-maker carving chops for Lauren
Chops
Pretty courtyard
Pretty roof
Pretty courtyard with tourists
Pretty courtyard sans tourists
Kids playing games
These two kids posed for the Canadian
These cute little kid played peekaboo with the Canadian
Garden near the magistrate's house
Cool-looking lane at the magistrate's house
Courtyard and archway at the magistrate's house
BeijingPingyao Belly
Wall being supported by poles with chunks of cement hanging from it!
On our last day, we decided to be Lazy Tourists and ride a golf buggy back to our hotel. Our driver was super cool and a complete and utter maniac. For an old guy, he sure enjoyed hooning around the streets and he hurtled down narrow alleyways with careless abandon.
Not sure where these fit in, but we saw them during our trip :D
The driver took us to the 一得客栈 Yide Hotel which is in a small alley, not far away from the main street at all.
The guesthouse was a renovated courtyard house built in 1736 by a wealthy merchant during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Annie, one of the owners, was a wonderfully helpful and friendly host who arranged for our airport pick-up and also was generally extremely attentive. Our room could technically fit three people. Here's the spare bed that was in our room.
Here was our bed - it's what's called a Kang bed (土炕). A The Kang bed is a traditional sleeping platform made of bricks (or other types of fired clay). Its interior cavity, leading to a flue, channels the exhaust from a wood or coal stove. Although it might take several hours of heating to reach the desired surface temperature, a properly designed bed raised to sufficient temperature should remain warm throughout the night without the need to maintain a fire.
As we went in summer, there was no need to test out the Kang bed. I would imagine that the Canadian would have been very relucant to sleep in a bed under which a fire had been lit ;)
Entrance to our courtyard - they locked it at around 10pm, although you just had to knock to be let in :)
Here was our room
Here's where we had breakfast in the mornings.
The Canadian's photo of my elbowthe entrance area
Some photos from around the restaurant. It really was a very charming setting in which to have breakfast.
Street near our hotel
平遥古城 The Wall of Pingyao
Annie from our hotel told us that a wall walk around the entire wall would take 6km. Unfortunately, you're only supposed to ascend and descend at certain points, so we were only able to do 3/4 of the entire wall - but that was still pretty cool.
The ancient city walls of Pingyao ... kinda looks like a prison!
Cannons to keep out invaders.
If you look down, you can still see the heavy rocks, intended for throwing down on invaders.
The Canadian in blatant contravention of the 'No Striding' on the wall directive.
Outside the wall - the remains of the moat.
These days, there are no invaders - just hordes of shops and vendors. Equally scary and determined in their own way.
We felt very voyeuristic while doing our Wall Walk because we could see down and observe people on the roads and in their courtyards without them even knowing we were doing so! Here's a man taking his wife for a little ride
Old lady out for a walk. Watching her progress was quite fun
Three on a moped.
Looking down a lane.
The roof-tops were quite interesting. Some had the traditional Chinese roof - but others had what looked like a little courtyard or patio on top.
Close-up
Juxtaposition of the old and the new
Ancient Chinese cities all used to have walls like Pingyao's - even Beijing. Unfortunately, they've been torn down in other cities and only the names remain like Front Gate, West Gate etc. I wish Beijing could have kept its wall and perhaps just built throughways.
These appear to be only very interim measures on these roof-tops
The wall appears to crumbling, hence these repairs that we saw - and this strange structure weighted down with sandbags.
Rooftops.
The Canadian liked the little chimneys.
Glimpses of the main street.
A reminder of the original purpose of the wall - to keep invaders out.
We continued our walk. This little old lady was trying to get out of her courtyard but couldn't get the door open.
Cat on a hot brick roof.
Dates being dried on a roof.
From the wall we could see this woman doing laundry in her courtyard.
This man was fixing his glasses.
Outside the wall, this guy was riding on top of the coal!
Only some points of the wall had people - for most of our walk, we felt as though we had the whole wall to ourselves
Rather cool-looking gardens
At this point of the wall, there were quite a few tour-groups and we were jostled.
So we set off at a brisk walk to try to leave the tour-groups behind us.
Another yard.
Some welcome shade on the wall - it was a very hot day.
On the city-side of the wall, you can see that the dirt is crumbling.
The path as we left the wall.
The wall SHOULD look like this.
But alas, much of the inside section is starting to look like this
Streets of Pingyao
The streets of Pingyao are very interesting.
BeijingPingyao Belly
Regrettably, unlike other ancient towns, they don't close off most of the town to vehicles. Lazy tourists are carted around on golf carts like this one. The carts also double as beds for sleepy drivers.
For some reason these guys decided to play cards in the middle of the street.
We discovered this little boy tethered up in front of a clothing shop. You'll see he's wearing the same clothes as the mannequin.
He's smiling - and after further inquiry we discovered that he'd tied himself there for a joke, to the amusement of his mother.
This little kid with the cap containing a solar-powered fan and shades posed for the camera
Gate
BeijingPingyao Belly
Chop-maker carving chops for Lauren
Chops
Pretty courtyard
Pretty roof
Pretty courtyard with tourists
Pretty courtyard sans tourists
Kids playing games
These two kids posed for the Canadian
These cute little kid played peekaboo with the Canadian
Garden near the magistrate's house
Cool-looking lane at the magistrate's house
Courtyard and archway at the magistrate's house
BeijingPingyao Belly
Wall being supported by poles with chunks of cement hanging from it!
On our last day, we decided to be Lazy Tourists and ride a golf buggy back to our hotel. Our driver was super cool and a complete and utter maniac. For an old guy, he sure enjoyed hooning around the streets and he hurtled down narrow alleyways with careless abandon.
Not sure where these fit in, but we saw them during our trip :D