Had a really good journey from Datong to Pingyao as was travelling on a train where loads of people from my Datong tour were on the same train carriage.
I came to Pingyao for no other reason than David (Israeli guy from Emei Shan) said that his guide book rates it as a ‘must see’ and says ‘if you don’t visit it you haven’t been to China’. It’s always dangerous to rave about places like this as 9 times out of 10 it will result in grave disappointment.
Soon as we arrived, we went to the train station’s ticketing office, me to get a ticket to Beijing, the Americans to get tickets to Xi’an. We were pre-warned that tickets would be scarce. After being told no repeatedly a French Chinese woman with perfect English from our Datong tour came to help us out. She was immediately asked ‘Why she was helping us?’ Which for me says it all.
It turns out there is one train to Beijing and two to Xi’an per day. Typically ‘a middle man’ buys all the available tickets and is willing to sell them back to you via the hostels and hotels for a 40% commission. What no one will advertise (bar from Yamen hostel) is that there are copious amounts of buses going to these destinations too so you don’t need to be stuck in Pingyao for the night if you so wish. Unfortunately for me I’d already paid for my dormitory bed when I discovered this.
Pingyoa is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve seen in China. It has narrow cobbled streets, with Qing (1644 - 1900 & something) buildings that are no more than two storeys high. It's famous for having the first bank in China and was the place where the Emperors did their banking. The Empress took out loans to pay money to Allied forces for war reparations. She promptly defaulted on the loans and the town’s banks went belly up consequently it lost it finance status to Shanghai. The town itself has a great ambience this in part is due to the fact that cars are banned from the town during the daytime.
The tourist board have a good marketing trick in that they ask you to pay a flat fee of 120Y to see all attractions in Pingyao. For that you get to see a lot of banks, bodyguard armouries and temples but seriously the ONLY attraction worth seeing and walking on is the wall surrounding the town. The wall is built in the shape of a turtle which represents longevity I believe. I’m told the town is also sloped slightly so that all waste matter can leave the town through the turtle’s back passage.
Personally whilst I do recommend you visit, I would say don’t waste your money on the tourist ticket. Instead hire a bike for the day and ride around the town.
Food
What can I say, the food is below average the prices are very high and together they represent bad value for money. The worst I have had the pleasure of eating in the whole of China.
