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Friday 25th August, 2006

Asia > China > Pingyao

(travel diary) Arrival: Pingyao

Category: China, 2006
I woke up at 5AM on the night train from 大同 Datong. Shortly thereafter we arrived at the city Taihuan. Outside the Datong train station we found a minibus which soon was going to 平遥 Pingyao, one of China's most well-preserved cities. According to our guide book, a good idea was to bring cash money because "no bank exist"... Tobias was assigned the mission to quick get some money, I guarded our bags and the minibus. The ATM he found didn't want to give him any money so we took a chance and went to Pingyao. "There have to be at least one ATM there".
After arrival we went straight to the hotel/hostel we'd booked in advance from Datong and yes, they did know about an ATM just outside the city walls. Good, now we can afford our room and it's now also possible for us to leave tomorrow when we will try to go to 西安 Xi'an!

Our hotel here in Pingyao is cosy and has a nice court yard. The city seem to be pretty calm and quite, at least inside the 6km long city wall. Effort is put to keep the city well-preserved, I guess a big reason for that is tourism.
Many roads are only for pedestrians and many cars and mopeds runs on electricity. Red lanterns is everywhere and their light is needed since not much ordinary street lights exists.
This is the city were we have heard most western music along the streets. For example an old 90's dance hit from the group "2 Unlimited".

Later today there was some heavy rains, we took the opportunity to rest. In the evening we got out and took some traditional photos in the dark. We will try to get up early and take some more photos.

Zai jian!
 

COMMENTS

Ma says:
25th August 2006
Intressant att läsa allt det ni är med om!
Hur vet ni vilka bussar ni ska åka med som går dit NI vill?
Fredrik responds:
26th August 2006
Ibland har vi lapp med platsens namn på kinesiska annars brukar det funka rätt bra med att säga ortsnamnet och se om de skakar på huvudet eller inte.
Eva Tobiasson says:
28th August 2006
Det är bra med lappar ibland!
yvonne says:
28th August 2006
hej killar, avundas er men det vet ni ju redan.Det där med lappar ska jag komma ihåg bara man skriver rätt.har försökt komma på något bra ord på kiesiska men kommer bara på tjing tjong( betyder hej då)
Fredrik responds:
29th August 2006
Ett annat tips angående lappar (som jag faktiskt hörde idag):
Har du skrivit ner ett ställe på en lapp (på engelska) så räcker de fram lappen upp-och-ner till chauffören... vänder han inte lappen rätt så kan du vara ganska så säker på att han inte förstår vart du vill åka :)

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