So, there I was, riding on the back of a moped with a middle-aged Chinese man, looking for the only ATM in town that would take my debit card. I was running very low on cash, my preferred method of payment while traveling, but all the ATMs in town were rejecting my card. The man was the owner of the hotel I was staying at and he had offered to bring me to the ATM. The night before I had arrived in Pingyao at 1am and the taxi took me to this hotel. I wasn't sure if it was the hotel that I had booked, but I stayed there anyway. The owner, when showing me the room, held up 3 fingers, which I took to mean 3 nights, since that is what I booked. However, I found out the next night, that his gesture was actually the price for one night; 300 yuan! I was expecting to pay about 350 yuan for all 3 nights in Pingyao!

My initial feelings that this wasn't the hotel I had booked was confirmed when I got an email from the booking website saying that I was a no-show at my hotel. And then later that night, the owner came to me to ask how many nights I would be staying. This is when I found out that I had only paid for one night. And that I would have to pay 600 more yuan for the next two nights. Now, you might be thinking that this is some kind of scam, but I honestly don't believe it was. The owner was far too helpful and cheerful. He wasn't shifty and would go out of his way to help me out. The moped ride to the ATM is one example, another is when the power went out one night, he came in and lit a candle for me so that I would have some light. Also, I forgot a map and my room key one day and he came running down the street to catch me and give them to me before I left for the day. I could have left the next day, but he was so helpful and seemed so happy to have me staying there, that I decided to stay. Besides, 300 yuan wasn't super expensive, it was just expensive for my method of travel up to this point. It was actually a pretty reasonable price, as it converts to less than $50. And the hotel, which I don't know what it was called because I couldn't read the sign, was actually quite nice. It was a courtyard hotel in the style of the Qing Dynasty, where it has a central courtyard and all of the rooms open into the courtyard. I had my own room and it was very nice to be able to relax and have my own space for once.

Pingyao is a small, ancient walled city that is known for its banking and nowadays as one of the best preserved Qing Dynasty towns in China. It is a very charming city, if a little touristy, where all of the shopfronts have not changed since the 18th and 19th centuries. It's almost like walking into the past, if you can ignore all the modern consumerism and souvenirs. The city is easily walkable and has a few interesting sites. Most of the tourist sites to see has to do with it's banking past, as it is where the first banks were established in China. There are several different 'ancient' courtyard houses and businesses that can be toured, though after checking out a few of them, they tend to look very similar. It is a very relaxing city and easily walkable. I rather enjoyed just walking down the streets and looking at the colorful shopfronts, with hanging red lanterns out front. I stayed in Pingyao for three days, exploring the narrow streets, walking the city walls and relaxing in various coffee shops and restaurants around town. I don't usually buy many souvenirs, but I did buy a few here, but they were pretty much all gifts for my family. And I even got a traditional Chinese massage. I know what some of you are thinking, and no, this wasn't the type with a "happy ending"! Eventually, I had to move on, as I had a train booked to Xi'an.

I left Pingyao in the evening, so I had to walk to the train station after dark. On my way to the train station, I think I might have accidently stumbled upon the Pingyao red-light district! I came across a hotel and as I was walking by, I noticed that several of the rooms on the bottom floor only had glass for walls. At first, I thought this was rather peculiar, because you could see the whole room from the outside and I wondered why anyone would want to stay in a place that had so little privacy. Then I noticed that all of the rooms had exactly one girl and the lights in each of the room had a reddish hue! One of the girls waved at me and then it finally clicked in my head what I was looking at. I was a bit surprised actually, because there is only one place that I have seen this kind of spectacle before, and that was in the famed red-light district of Amsterdam. It is not something I expected to see in a small, ancient town like Pingyao! I laughed to myself, gave the girl a little knowing smile and walked on to the train station, where I would depart on another hellish night on the train.

I was heading to Xi'an, home of the famed Terracotta Warriors. Getting to Xi'an was another challenge, however. There were no sleeper berths left on the overnight train, so I had settle for a hard seat. The train to Xi'an was about 8 hours. The seats on Chinese trains are not very comfortable. They are small and seemingly at exactly 90 degrees and they are oriented so that a set of three or two seats are facing another set of three or two seats. Due to this, your knees are constantly knocking into the person's knees across from you, nevermind trying to stretch your legs out. And with the people with standing-room only tickets milling about, and all of the luggage that people bring on the train, it's extremely hard to get comfortable. Speaking of luggage, there was a group of three people that brought on 15 pieces (I counted) of luggage with them! And most of them were huge bags, bigger than my backpack! Who needs that much stuff with them, when traveling on a train??

Anyway, right away, a group of guys across the aisle from me immediately began staring at me. It has happened enough up to this point, that I thought I was used to it, but these guys just wouldn't look away, so I was starting to get annoyed with it. I would close my eyes and lay my head down and occasionally look up and they were still staring at me! It was maddening! I think I was just really tired, but I could feel my annoyance growing and I wanted to yell at them for being so rude, but I also knew it wouldn't have done any good and I would have been the rude one in their minds, so I kept quiet and tried to ignore them. The only way to lay my head down was to huddle around my daypack and lay down on that, which gave me a sore neck over time. Throughout the night, I constantly shifted my position, but no matter how much I moved, I couldn't find a comfortable position. I know I dozed off once, though, because I had a small nightmare and woke up with a jump, which I am pretty sure startled my neighbors around me. I didn't get much sleep, if any, on this train ride, so I was pretty exhausted when I finally arrived in Xi'an in the morning. However, I still had to find my hostel. Luckily, the place gave really good directions and after riding the bus for half an hour, I found it and so I checked in and crashed for a couple of hours. After that train ride, I vowed to never get a hard seat ticket in China! Here on out, I would only be getting sleepers. And so far, I have kept that promise to myself.