Pingyao

Serendipitously in March this article appeared in The New York Times lauding the charms of Pingyao:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/world/asia/18pingyao.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=pingyao&st=cse. Research showed that it lies within a half day’s train ride of Kaifeng so I vaulted it to the upper tier of my must-see list. With the warmth of spring and the waning of the semester, I hit the rails with friend Mike for a weekend journey.
We arrived in Yuci, where we had to transfer to Pingyao, and immediately sought return tickets. You can ‘t get round trip tickets in China which plays hell with planning. Tickets are on sale only 10 days from date of use to prevent scalping, which had become a big problem a few years ago especially around the big festival travel periods.
We had intended to take an overnight Sunday and get back to Kaifeng in time for me to teach my Monday morning class but the train was sold out, so we had to get the Sunday morning—there are only two trains a day on the Yuci-Kaifeng line.
We couldn’t get a train to Pingyao so we decided to take the bus. Although comfortable enough it made many stops and the hour train ride we missed became the two hour bus trip we got. Finally arriving at the station, we were about 1 ½ kilometers from the city’s south gate. A persistent tout followed us all the way to the south gate despite our firm “buyao” (don’t want).
Entering old Pingyao, electric carts and bicycles replaced cars. Inside the formidable Ming Dynasty walls that ring the city all was as it had been in the town’s glory days as a major Silk Road station and banking center. Our hotel was closer to the north gate so we wound our way through the city soaking up its medieval flavor.
Our hostel was an old courtyard home as all the numerous guest houses are—there are no new buildings inside the walls and I saw only one large hotel at the end of street next to the wall. You can get an idea of a home layout from the superb Chinese film “Raise the Red Lantern,” filmed in Pingyao and readily available in the USA.
We got the single ticket that’s good for about 20 admissions within the city for RMB 80 (about US $11), rented a couple of bicycles, and set off sightseeing. The town is compact but signage as usual is nonexistent;. You’re on your own in terms of finding everything. As a result we hit and missed, but found our way to the site of the first draft bank in China, residences, and temples. Only 50 meters from the hostel is the county government center including administrative offices, courts, the jail, and interrogation (torture) instruments. We were entering one of the courtyards when a group of guards in period costume herded to where a recreation of a trial was presented. A father pleaded for mercy towards his son, who got off with a beating. However, he had to shoulder the disgrace which would taint his family for generations.
Late Saturday afternoon the predicted rains came, the most steady and hardest I’ve seen since coming to China. We kibitzed with the crowd in the hostel and went out to dinner with a typical international group including a London lady, two Italians, an Argentine, and a Swiss.
One of our tasks Friday was to get the Pingyao-Yuci ticket—we sure didn’t want to repeat the bus experience. We had to bargain hard for the 2 kilometer electric cart ride including the strategic walkaway, but we got our price. As is so often the case, having made the deal the driver now became our friend. Friday night we were walking home from the other side of town. The driver happened by and gave us a free lift to the hostel. We made an appointment for him to pick us up at 6:30 AM Sunday to begin our journey back to Kaifeng.
We took the 7:00 AM. No seats but we relaxed in the dining car and had the standard (vegetarian!) breakfast for RMB 10 (about US $1.50). In Yuci we had a layover extended to 2.5 hours by a late train. Mike had wisely purchased hard sleeper berths so we could stretch out and nap on the long ride home. We finally walked through the gates into our compound at 11:00 PM. A long day, a great trip, a weekend well spent.

I'll post a slideshow of pix as soon as I can put it together.