Travelled here on the overnight train after leaving Beijing and Sam flew back to Blighty. It is one of China's last walled cities and it very pretty with lots of courtyards, winding alleys and flagstone streets. One problem though....no one told us that there were no banks in Pingyao for foreigners! After a few hours wandering round trying to find a bank, we bumped into another couple from Quebec in a bank with the same problem and amazingly Simon spoke fluent Chinese. An hour and a half later, after jumping in a cab to the next big city, we were all settled in a nearby bar toasting our cash success with local firewater and losing quite spectacularly at drinking dice. It did help us to learn Chinese numbers though! The next day we all hired bikes for the day and cycled round the city walls which was fun, although the two boys refused to get tandom bikes and insisted on having their own! Comedy style tuk-tuk ride through the alleys finishing our beer and takeaway pizza, after almost leaving it a tad too late to catch our train, which we did with seconds to spare...Was well handy Simon knew the phrase "Step on it driver!" Onto a rendezvous with a load of terracotta warriors next... x