Summer Trip 2009 – Part 6

From Datong we went to Pingyao by train. We took the 9:05 am train and arrived Pingyao at 4:30 p.m.  The train ride was a good one.  We booked sleepers, bottom sleepers which are called “sah pu”, whoever reads chinese, it’s written on the tickets, so you can tell me if I said it right!

Back to arriving at Pingyao, mother and I got out the train station and looked for a cab. What we saw were cabs that look like this.

Mother said pick a cab driver who speaks English, hahahaha, we picked one who we thought he speaks English, but he doesn’t even understand a single word. But this 3-wheeler cab really is not that bad, tho it goes slow, and it’s kinda scary. It’s very airy, of course.

As usual we asked the driver to take us to a not too expensive hotel. The driver took us to the City Wall, Pingyao Ancient City Wall.

Of course, mom and I were looking at each other wondering what is this guy doing and where he is taking us. We want to check-in to a hotel, not touring yet. We told him no, we don’t want tour, we need a “bing guan”. He told us, in Chinese, of course, the “bing guan” is inside and we need to get tickets to get into the City Wall. Ah, the light bulb flickered!!! I got a ticket and it was free for my mom. The ticket is good for 3 days. The ticket will allow the holder to visit all the touristy places inside the City.

In we go to the City Wall. Very impressive. Feels like going back in time! Every thing inside looks old. Moreover, Pingyao is such a dusty place. Dust all over the place and it’s breezy, so you can just imagine how crummy it is.

The ride was about 10 minutes, turning here and there – “wan lei wan hui, chuen lei chuen hui”, I told mom I will never figure out how to walk these streets. Everything look the same. Cabbie finally parked his 3-wheeler in a lane and got out and we follow suit. He too is very respectful..he helped mom get up and off the vehicle. He helped us with our luggage and walked to one of the main streets, i presumed to our hotel. Walked we did to this place, our hotel, Jing Jing Lou Hotel:

The night picture of outside the hotel:

The owner of the hotel is a lady and mom bargained the price from RMB180 to RMB150. I’m sure the cabbie gets little commission for bringing customers to their hotel.   We were the only occupants in that hotel.  It was so quiet, just us mother and daughter with the owner and her children/in-law running the hotel. 

To be continued….but here are some pics:

The night light around the City

Outside our hotel room

Going up the Ancient City Wall. Opps, that’s my mom, she will definitely give me an earful if she sees this!

The Wall