Pingyao

We caught our first night train to Pingyao. We were a bit nervous about the night train but it was actually ok and 100% better than the first train we caught. We got a hard sleeper which means you are in a carriage which contains rooms without doors and within those rooms are three bunk beds on either wall. We opted for the middle bunk on both sides so we were next to each other.We managed to get a little bit of sleep and arrived in Pingyao at 6.30am. We were quite nervous as we were both on a downer about China and couldn't cope with another Datong but we were very pleasantly surprised once we entered the city walls of Pingyao.Pingyao is an ancient city dating back 2700 years and it is only about one square mile. It is exactly how you imagine ancient China to be and it was very nice and clean! The Chinese like to visit Pingyao for their holidays so it is very geared up for tourists with little shops and they even do street performances in the city gate towers around the city. Our hostel was very chilled out and we felt very relaxed and at ease. We tried the famous Pingyao beef, which is exactly like corn beef but with chop sticks!! I was tempted to give them the recipe for corn beef hash. All the buildings had courtyards to the rear and we stayed in a folk style room with a MASSIVE bed which could have slept 5 people! We only had one night here but we could have easily stayed longer. Most of the Chinese tourists were excited to see Westerners and we posed for a couple more photos! We mainly spent our time wandering through the streets; they even have a Catholic and Christian church within the walls. We ventured out of the walls in search of a cash machine and the local people were much friendlier in their staring and all the young ones we walked passed waved and said hello, practicing their English. Pingyao has defiantly turned things around for us and although we are sad to leave we are hoping the next stop is even better!

A few things we learnt about Pingyao:

• Pingyao was the financial centre of China
• Its history dates back 2,700 years, and is one of the best preserved ancient cities in the known world.
• It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• We really enjoyed it and felt very relaxed!
• There famous Pingyao beef is exactly like corn beef!