China past, behind stone

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Pingyao is a relict city from the Ming dynasty, with a history extending to 400 B.C. or so, but mostly influenced by developments since 1300 A.D.  The attraction is the fact that it retains the original city wall and much of the original architecture within those walls.  Its currency with foreign travelers is best evinced by the concentration of hostels and foreigner catering sites which, to be honest, are quite welcome after 2 nights sleeping on Chinese trains...

We began our journey from Beijing by hopping on a train from a behemoth of a train station with Datong, a smaller city roughly West of the capital, as our destination.  Because the trip is rather long, 8 hours or so, we opted to leave at night and sleep on the train in what are called hard sleepers.  The 'hard', methinks, is short for 'You'll hardly sleep here, sucker!", because in truth it is a bit difficult to snuggle in with close to 40 other folks sharing the same car, most of whom are chinese without any apparent resistance to sleep on a train (as indicated by the rapid emergence of a symphony of snoring...).  Not to mention the frequent stops, bumps, and fear of sleeping through one's destination...  Nevertheless, we managed to find ourselves in Datong, where we were rapidly collared by agents from our travel agency and escorted away from the throngs.  After a nice breakfast of bread purchased in Beijing, we made off on a tour with a group from various parts:  Malaysia, Switzerland, Canada, and England.

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Our reason for going to Datong was singular:  The Yungang caves--a must see by most accounts.  However, all tours booked in this country inevitably include other destinations and at least one stop at some market or 'gallery'.  After a slow start picking people up and getting gas (!), we set off through smog enshrouded country side, over a massive bridge over a huge, dry river bed (sobering, that), up into the mountains, and finally found ourselves in a tight little canyon reknowned for the Buddhist temple clinging to the rock wall like a funny looking bug.  This hanging temple ostensibly was constructed to beg relief from frequent floods that tended to wash everything (and everyone) away...  Quite a clever construct, even if the quarters and walk ways are rather tight (especially with tourist groups running around).  Not to mention a bit nerve racking, seeing as one is standing on wood beams inserted into the rock wall several hundred years ago.  There apparently aren't any more problems with floods, by the way.  The valley is dry--and dammed.

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Beyond the hanging temple, a terrible lunch there, and a flat tire on the fancy bridge (very good for meeting the other tourists...), we finally found ourselves at the caves.  An endless number (apparent) were punctured into the sandstone cliffs several hundred years back at the bequest of an emperor then housed in Datong.  Innumerable buddhas are carved from the cliffs inside the caves, from the very large (17m tall or so) to the very small.  Amazing detail and elaboration, with painted ceilings, murals, etc.  Really quite fascinating.  It wasn't possible to see all the caves, nor do I think would one want to try.  The project itself involved decades and thousands of workers.  It wasn't finished, however.  The emperor moved south to Luoyang and took the workers along where they started new caves, also supposedly very interesting and similar.

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While a good outing, the beer shared with the group afterwards was welcome, as was the meal made near to the train station.  We were fortunate to have met a pair of English ladies, mom and daughtor, who too were travelling on to Pingyao that night by train.  By great luck, we landed a softsleeper birth with them on the train.  Compared to the hard sleeper we used on the previous train, soft sleeper is luxurious with 4 bunks in a single cabin, very posh.  No snoring.  Still difficult to sleep...  Upon arriving to Pingyao we transferred from our fancy digs to the tight and rather odoriferous confines of an old, rickety bus obviously designed to cram as many people as possible in for maximum fare.  We probably got robbed, but after waiting for an hour and a half for the bus to fill and trawling the town for extra passengers, we finally headed toward Pingyao at a excruciatingly slow pace...  Only good thing is that it wasn't possible for anyone to spit inside the bus--too many people.  When ultimately tossed from our clanky bus unceremoniously on the outskirts of Pingyao after 2 hours of travel, we suddenly found ourselves acosted by numerous motorcycle taxi drivers who knew much better what we wanted than we did.  A brief flirt with death under the tires of a semi-tractor crossing the highway was followed by a bumpy and neck-jarring meander into the old part of town (behind intact stone walls), somehow avoiding pedestrians, bikes, dogs, cars, and the odd vendor's kiosk.  Finally we found our little hotel, set aside from the tumult, very tranquil, quaint, and attentive.

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The attractin of Pingyao is the city itself.  Much of the central part of town is free of vehicles and makes for a pleasant walk checking out the wares available for purchase, from the odd baked good to pieces of jade to silk purses.  Tours, mostly of chinese folks, arrive here by the droves and fill the streets with noisy guides and groups of like-baseball cap.  All wander about seeing the stores and entering the numerous historical buildings and museums, most associated with Pingyao's once important position as a banking center in China.  The architecture is interesting--indeed, our hotel was a restored Ming dynasty home.  When the sights start to blend together, then the city walls provide and fun recourse--they can be walked around completely.  Altogether, however, Pingyao stands out as the first place yet, after spending 2 nights on trains, where we could get a respite from the noise and tumult in our nice retreat of a hotel with clean, well maintained bathrooms!  Definitely recommended.