There is wonder in almost everything I see …

Wonder in almost everything I see …

I slept till nearly 0800 today; a new record in sleeping in on this trip. Pingyao is the first place in China this trip that is on the backpacker trail so I managed to gets some sort of a fruit and muesli for breakfast. There are places in town that do coffee and cake but my cravings have disappeared since Wuyuan (where you couldn’t even buy bread).

After breakfast I explored the old walled town which is remarkably well-preserved.  The wall dates from the 1300s and likewise with some of the buildings.  It is drop-dead gorgeous and is a reflection of what most people would like China to be  –  colourful, quaint, old and traditional. Every turn yields another photo opportunity.

While it is touristy but it is still living and breathing. It helps that most visitors are domestic and the knick-knacks tend to be traditional cakes, local food, vinegar, spirits and craft. There is a sprinkling of westerners who are not native English speakers, and the few English-speaking ones seem to also speak fluent Mandarin (as if they work and live in China). I can’t help thinking that native English-speaking go to a very limited range of countries.

First stop was the Confucius Temple and Academy followed by various homes, other temples and a bank. Pingyao had several banks which introduced cheques or drafts, ie. signed documents so that money could be transferred without having to physically carry silver over long distances.

After lunch I rested briefly till mid-afternoon when I went the old courthouse. A short-lived sandstorm blew up. It certainly gets into the eyes, nose and mouth (so I had to join the club and spit). Like so many places in Pingyao, a traditional gate leads into a whole world of gardens, ponds, courtyards, accommodation and offices.

Finally, I went up the South City Gate for a walk on the city wall.

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Pricey China

All of today’s sights were included in a mega pricey ticket of CNY150 (NZD30). This isn’t the first pricey thing and you may have heard me whine in my previous ramblings about how expensive China is getting:

• Many sights are priced at CNY30 (NZD6) and star attractions at CNY120 (NZD24).
• Long distance buses are pricey but the bullet trains are reasonable in my view.
• However the shocker was the price of coffee on the train; like Starbucks in China the Italian coffee on the train was more expensive at CNY25 (NZD5) than in some Western countries.

There is definitely a parallel economy here; one for the rich (who desire modern and Western goods and services) and another for the poor (who eat and buy things from ma and pa shops).

The Italian coffee on the train could have bought 100 yummy dumplings from the shop next to my Kaifeng hostel. It doesn’t seem right … what seems “not cheap” for me must be ridiculously expensive for many locals but it doesn’t seem to stop many of them from buying or enjoying. iPhones, iPads and flash Androids are common even as you take rural bus services.  Even bus and train conductors will have a fairly nice smart phone and spend their idle time browsing the internet.

I finished the day with an evening walk, which led me to a delightful lantern-lit atmosphere of Pingyao by night.