PINGYAO and DATONG and surrounding

 

beats wallpaper

WHERE: two relatively unimpressive cities situated between Xian and Beijing, only noteworthy as jump-offs for the impressive sights that surround them.

WHERE (less detailed): still the People’s Republic of China

howdy there

WEATHER: brisk at best, absolutely bloody freezing at worst. First snow sighting

TEMPERATURE: -5 to 10

steep, even by San Francisco standards

FOOD IS: pretty good. In both towns we managed to find restaurants with pictures on the menu and thanks to the English/Chinese translator we downloaded from the iStore we asked (non-verbally of course) if the dish contains chicken. On the downside we ordered Chicken Knuckles.

Rhaani enjoys a quick bite with her peeps

A PINT of BEER COSTS: 50p for a 500ml of Snow beer.

LOCALS: our first real negative experience. We came out of Datong train station and agreed a price for a cab to our hotel. We sat in the car for a while until we realised the driver’s wife was trying to fit another two people into the car. After some shouting we drove off only to pull a U-turn five minutes down the road as we returned to the train station where two more customers were waiting. After more unintelligible shouting we drove off. We found out the next day that we still paid x3 the metred rate for the journey.

put your back into it foreigner

HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS: sharing a soft-sleeper compartment with the Chinese Men’s Doubles Snoring champions...a leisurely bike ride around the smallest town in China turns into a 2hr hunt for the post office... finding a supermarket which sells the tastiest of dumplings for 4p each...Paul fears our blogs might have drawn the attention of the Chinese government as we are unable to access our email accounts or google during our stay in Pingyao...our first real taste of Chinese street food as we enjoy stir-fried noodles for 30p whilst entertaining the locals...Paul forgets he’s now in a land of midgets and draws blood as he whacks his head on a doorframe...Raising the Red Lantern at Wang’s Family Courtyard...

Rhaani waits to see if her luck’s in

....the extremely cold, underwhelming and misleading Zhangbi Underground Castle (there is no castle just lots of underground tunnels)...Rhaani’s worst toilet experience ever...

Rhaani “I don’t think the women’s toilet is finished yet”

...Paul curses himself for forgetting his camera as a supermarket brawl breaks out among pensioners queuing for flour, security guards have to be called as six octogenarians wrestle on the floor...Paul cursing himself for not being fast enough with his camera as a mother lets her two-year-old daughter pee through her leggings on the train station platform...our first experience of Chinese cattle class, our decision to go cheap on the 7hr day train to Datong backfires, fortunately after 2hrs of standing we manage to find a seat...

The only way to travel

...capitalism in action as woman hard-sells toothbrushes in train carriage...Rhaani’s superb internet bargain-hunting skills find us a 5* hotel (normal price £96 a night) for £20...our first gym workout since leaving London...Paul sets off in-room electronic safe then hides/retires to shower and lets Rhaani “explain” to maid and manager why the piercing noise won’t stop....the highlight of our day in Datong is a KFC branch... confusion and hysteria reign as we pop into local cinema and ask if Harry Potter V is showing in English or with English subtitles. After 10 minutes of painful charades/pictionary reinforcements are called and the English speaking women from around the block tells us no...

A rare moment of interest in Zhangbi

...our hotel turns out to be wedding reception central and no less than five wedding banquets are prepared for Saturday...we reckon with our newly found celebrity status we can easily have a free night on the beers if we pay casual visits to the various celebrations... to our dismay we return from a day’s non-sightseeing to find that Chinese weddings are massively tame events and end before 4pm...Rhaani prepares for our coldest day yet with a carefully planned out 5-layer ensemble: Skins thermal top and bottoms, t-shirt, ice-breaker thermal jumper, North Face extra thick fleece jacket and Mountain Equipment Down Jacket, hands are covered by gloves then skiing mittens. Unfortunately she forgets about her feet and bizarrely opts for lightweight gym socks and a pair of Nike Free 2.0 – Nike’s lightest running shoes...

ready for the cold

now with a bit of dry-walling I could have this mess all cleared up for you in a flash

...probably the best day tour ever! The spectacular Yung gang grotto (craps all over Santa’s) and the gravity defying Hanging Monastery. Both are simply stunning and only a 2hr drive apart. The grotto features over 40 caves in which statues are carved into cave and cliff walls. Stunning and a must see for anyone who visits China ... Rhaani’s no1 sight so far...obtaining student discounts after persuading ticket office worker that our drivers licences were student cards, even though my Paul’s UK licence has pictures of cars and vans on it (sorry Buddha but we are on a budget)...Buddha immediately seeks repayment as Paul is forced to get out and push taxi as snow and ice threatens to prevent visit to Hanging Monastery...the Monastery is a feat of engineering beauty and is built into cliffs 40m off ground....Rhaani informs vertigo suffering tourist the way out is by climbing higher in the precarious structure....

inside or out, both pretty special

TRAVELLERS TIT-BIT: thanks to China’s one family one child law the country is facing a massive child-obesity problem as parents - and especially grandparents - spoil their children rotten.

because everyone knows a fag is essential for good bowel movements

MOST RECENTLY LOST: our £5.60 deposit that we forgot to pick up from the hostel in Pingyao, Rhaani is currently bombarding them with requests to sent the money to Beijing.

UP NEXT: Beijing