Pingyao

Ah Pingyao - competing with Guilin as my favourite place in China, so far. This town is remarkably well-preserved since Ming Dynasty times 600 years ago. I fell in love with this place - it's so quiet, the people so friendly, and such a fantastic atmosphere. I stayed at Harmony Guesthouse where Mr. and Mrs. Deng took very good care of me and the other handful of guests from all parts of the globe. They were excellent chefs as well, having the chance to try several obscure kinds of noodles (i.e. oat floar, cat ear noodles [no, not made from cats], etc). This is the only city that has a completely intact Ming Dynasty wall surrounding it as well (~6 km), and many of the houses are that old as well. As with the rest of China, there was a lot of poverty, but people here seemed much happier than their large urban counterparts. It's a simple life and the value of personal relationships have not yet been lost here.



I had a chance to rent a bicycle and go to similarly aged temples (somewhat neglected with time) in the surrounding region. The bike was a little tempermental but that added to the fun as I had a chance to meet a local farmer who had a screwdriver handy when the chain jammed itself into the assembly. Yeah, lots of pics on this one (in case my camera gets ripped off again).



Thank you, Bo Bo, for the recommendation to come here.