On a Happier Note...

I realize that my last post was quite depressing, so I am changing pace here by talking about my recent trip to the ancient city of Pingyao.  Spoiler alert, it was great.  Pingyao is a 2,700 years old walled city in China's Shanxi province, about 450 miles from Beijing.  To get there we took an overnight train from Beijing train station.

As shown above, the beds were stacked three high, with about a foot between them.  The "bed" that we slept in was comically small.  They were really more like benches.  Despite the cramped quarters, the twelve hour trip was pretty enjoyable.  I played a Chinese version of the B.S. card game, a game I played for years with my siblings.  We never played on a train in the Chinese country side, however, so that was a new experience.  My sleep was not aided by the sudden cold I developed, but that was forgotten pretty quickly.  I woke up around 7:00 to find myself looking at what one classmate likened to Tatooine (that's a Star Wars reference for those of you who don't know).  In short, it was pretty barren.  From the station we transferred to some golf carts and drove into the walled city of Pingyao.

My first look at the wall was pretty breathtaking.  We pretty much rounded a corner and the huge wall appeared out of the hazy morning air.  Going through the gates, we were soon introduced to the hotel we would be sleeping in that night.  Needless to say, it was less than traditional.  Pictured below is the courtyard outside of my room (mine is the first one on the right).  It was delightful to walk out of my room and find beautiful architecture, instead of a cold hallway.

 Speaking of non-traditional, pictured below is the bathroom of my hotel room.  As a captain of efficiency, I was delighted at the time saving potential of such a setup.

After a breakfast that didn't seem to consist of any kind of breakfast type foods, we were set lose on Pingyao.  It's hard to fit all the museums and historic sites we visited, so I'll simply provide a highlight reel of sorts.  

Our first stop was a museum that covered the history of bodyguards in eastern China.  My limited Chinese, and the poor quality of the translations, meant that I wasn't able to get much actual history.  Thankfully, entertainment was provided by the plethora of terrifying, rusty weapons you could simply walk up and start swinging.  I was flabbergasted at the apparent disregard for the potential lawsuits that could result from this ease of access.

Who thought this was a good idea?

Our next stop was one of the oldest banks in China.  We were greeted by beautiful architecture and the vase featured below.  Not only is it beautiful, it's 400 years old.

The bank was also the residence of the owner, and featured a room devoted to prayer to the Buddha.  this would turn out to be a common occurrence in the residences we would visit.

Perhaps my favorite place we visited was the former headquarters of the Pingyao county government, a beautiful building that consisted of several large, interconnected courtyards. 

 I did some solo exploration and stumbled on a quiet side area, pictured below.  I'm not sure what it was, but I was struck by the calmness of the place, something that Beijing is lacking in the extreme.  

I was so relaxed, that I just laid down in the middle of the place and took this picture.  My friends wandered off and watched some performance, but I couldn't be happier that I stayed.  No doubt the other visitors thought I was just another strange foreigner.  I nearly fell asleep too, but my friends returned before I could accomplish that.

We returned to the hotel for a paper cutting activity.  I skipped that, and used my time to read in a courtyard in the hotel.  It was wonderful, and besides, I couldn't care less about paper cutting.  I didn't get the artsy gene.  I also took a moment to walk around and check out the small shops around the hotel.  I stopped to buy a small lighter with a Ferrari logo on it, and after haggling with the guy for a bit he asked me whether I was cold or not.  You see, I was wearing shorts, because it was 65 degrees.  When I replied that I was very comfortable, he pulled up the cuff of his pants to reveal that he was also wearing a pair of cold weather tights.  To each his own.  With art class over, we spent the rest of the afternoon doing even more traveling, including the rental of a tandem bicycle. Unfortunately, I failed to get any pictures, as I was having too much fun, but I will ask around.  I'm sure someone has one.  Part of that afternoon adventure was finally getting on top of the wall that had captured my imagination that morning.  

 It was as beautiful as I thought it would be.  You could see the entire city, and you have a sudden desire to walk the entire way around, just to say you did.  Sadly, my friends were not keen on that idea, so we headed back to the bikes.

 After riding around for while, (which is easier said than done when you're on a tandem bike...on narrow streets...filled with people...and stores) we ended up at the Daoist Temple.

The architecture was beautiful, as you can see in all the pictures.  I even took the time to wash my hands in the fountain of my Zodiac animal, the ram.

I especially loved the secondary courtyard, seen above.  It was very airy, with a beautiful pool in the middle.

This post is getting pretty long, so I will save my other adventures from this weekend for a future post.  As a closing note, I would like to introduce the concept of "Chinglish."  Before you get all offended, this is just the term used here in China for the sometimes poor, and often hilarious, translations that are used in many places in China.  What follows are my "Chinglish" highlights from this trip.

Is this a common occurrence?

Oh...so close 

I'm all about safety when it comes to my maces.

And the winner is...