Pingyao!

Pronounced like a bullet ricocheting around your ears…

An absolute jewel of a place – severe dust-coloured city walls enclosing a bustling rabbit warren of streets and lanes. We were taken by coach from Xian to the outskirts of Pingyao where we met An, our new guide from here to Datong, his hometown. We seemed to circle the dust-coloured city walls on about three sides before being emptied out, with our baggage, outside one of the city gates. The city within the walls was apparently traffic-free. Almost. Well, there were barriers across the roads which were lifted early in the morning and again in the evening to let stallholders and shopowners get in and out with stock etc. Not to mention those rich enough to drive some of the flash cars we saw. Beside the barriers were stiles made of metal which we had to get over in order to get to our guesthouse. We were told that it was a traditional house, and my biggest fear was that there would be squat toilets for two days….

But, I needn’t have worried. Our hotel – De Ju Yuan – was a restored traditional house, completed quite recently (with Western toilets!! in a wet room): an inner courtyard with rooms off and tables and chairs in the courtyard, plants, decorated wooden fascias – so picturesque it takes your breath away. Everything was authentic country Chinese – the feeling that at last after Beijing and Xian we were seeing the real China. The fact that so many Chinese come here for their 3-day Labour day holiday is confirmation that this is a great place to be.

I took many beautiful photographs to jog my memory in the future: Andy playing his guitar in the courtyard, the rest of us drinking out there, the Aussies and Jonny playing arsehole, Crazy Linda scowling or delighting us with her personality….

Now Crazy Linda – she was something. One of the waitresses, she introduced herself as Linda, Crazy Linda; she soon captured our hearts and made us rock with laughter. Nineteen years old, looking as if she slept in her clothes, but such a live wire. She could come across as rude or bossy – and that was to the customers! But she was extremely helpful, would sit beside us and order us about, then order her older colleagues about. She confessed to having ambitions to be a guide, whereupon we agreed she’d be very good, as she had a great personality. This was a word she didn’t know in English, so she wrote it on her hand and continually spoke it aloud to learn it. Such an ambitious girl.

Her observation that Pete was cute but Ben was handsome amused us all, especially as Ben has been asked by groups of girls, ever since entering China, to pose with them for photos. Gary found out why: apparently Ben resembles Prince William, in the eyes of teenage Chinese girls. At any rate, crazy Linda liked him (and hung round him a fair bit – see photo of two of them with our guide Gary!) and apparently there was a marriage ceremony of sorts one morning. She passed on her email contact details to us before we left – so she’ll no doubt hear from some of our group!

The food – best so far in China, as far as I’m concerned. So tasty and a good variety of delicious dishes to suit my vegetarianism! And it was served in a dining room that resembled a Great Hall – very atmospheric. The guesthouse was very old and when it was a family home it housed several generations: the grandparents would have the main house opening off the main courtyard where Pat and I had our room, other generations would have their quarters in another courtyard, or upstairs in the attics. Guests would be offered room off the main courtyard too. This particular house was in private hands until the late 1940s when the government seized it. Decades later, the present owner bought it and restored it to its present glory. With upgraded toilets and ensuite showers. Lovely.

On one of our days, we did a walk along the city walls before descending into the chaos of the little narrow streets and visiting a temple – a mixture of Buddhist and Taoist – which turned out to be a quiet little place to escape from the turbulence of the street outside. We then joined queues of seemingly hordes of Chinese tourists who wanted to visit the first bank in the region. Quite a contrast to the temple… it was absolutely heaving, we couldn’t hear An give his guided tour, and actually lost him and Gary a couple of times. In the end, some of us gave up, escaped, and went back to the guesthouse. Pat and I took a mad rickshaw outside the city walls later, as we were running out of cash and needed a bank. Then we walked back, spending money as we went in little shops and stalls on the way. Got some lovely paintings in a little shop. We also found a place to have massage – I had the foot and leg massage – the most wonderful one since Pattaya about 8 years ago. I was walking on air afterwards.