Around Pingyao and various China observations

Hi all--

After our train event, we happily spent a couple days wandering around the ancient and well-preserved town of Pingyao, in the Shanxi Province south of Beijing. The old, walled area of the city is incredibly well-preserved (let's hear it for ancient economic downturn!) and a delight to walk around in. The streets are closed to vehicular traffic (except bikes and electric bikes), and everyone sits on their porch steps in the evenings. Every household has red paper lanterns hanging outside (think of the film "Raise the Red Lantern", which was filmed nearby), and gracefully curved roof decorations. We stayed in a hostel located in the former mayor's house. It had several courtyards with rooms surrounding each one (see the photo). The ancient city walls are intact, and it's possible to walk around the entire thing (though we didn't because it cost $).

Where is AAA when you need them?

On our second day there, we rented bikes and went on a ride out into the countryside to check out the Shaunglin Temple. It was rough going and not very scenic nearer the new part of the city, but that soon gave way to farms, fields, and trees. We were about 4 kilometers out of town and almost to the temple when Sarah's bike chain decided to fall apart. We pulled off to the side of the road and attempted to fix it with no tools. Eventually two police cars (with 5 people in each) pulled up, and with lots of advice from all of them, one took charge and tried to fix the chain..... using a large rock. That obviously didn't work, so eventually they told us (through lots of hand gestures) that we could get the chain fixed at the temple. So we walked our bikes down the road (which turned out to be a really nice walk) and gave them over to the guys hanging out front. We toured the temple, which had some amazing painted statues and well-kept grounds. When we got back out, the chain was "fixed". We got about 500 meters down the road before it broke again. Pretty much immediately, a couple guys on motorcycles pulled over, and ended up spending the next hour working on the chain. Eventually, one of them took it into town and got a couple new links put in. After that, we were able to get it back together with no problems. One thing about the Chinese, many of them are incredibly nice and will go completely out of their way to help, even for strangers who can't speak their language.

That was pretty much the main excitement around Pingyao. I did try to go birding at the river one of the days we were there, but it turned out to be a cesspool of sewage and trash. I was kind of expecting that, but it was pretty disappointing to come upon it anyway. The main birds I saw that day were in cages at a "pet store" enroute: Bluethroats, Rubythroats, buntings, Starlings, Hwamei, Leothrix, Great Tits (yes, this is a bird), etc. The Chinese think it's good luck to have a bird in the house, so all of these birds I mentioned are wild caught (and in this case, in horrible condition); some so freaked out they were beating themselves to death against the sides of the cages trying to get out. They seem to be a little better taken care of once they are in a home, but they are still in small cages. They get them to sing a lot by getting two males and putting their cages fairly near each other, so that the birds constantly feel the need to defend their "territory" by singing. Pretty sad...

So yesterday we jumped on a bus and headed toward Xi'an. Luckily, the bus ride was way more comfortable than the train ride. Sarah is trying to kick a head cold she must have picked up on the plane when we flew to Beijing, so we've been trying to take it easy since then. Our reason for heading to Xi'an was to see the Terracota Warriors and to catch a flight out to Lijiang, in the Yunnan Province. More on that in the next post.

OK, so a few observations thus far in China:

1. China is one of the safest feeling countries we've ever travelled in. Even in the back alleys of Beijing it felt safe. This is echoed by pretty much every traveller we've met. It's a refreshing feeling compared to places where you have to constantly be wary and on your guard. Here we still pay attention and keep ahold of our bags, but there isn't the feeling that everyone is eyeing your bag.

2. Smoking is extremely popular in China (at least with the men). People light up everywhere -- the most annoying times being on the buses and trains. Yesterday we were eating in a little mom and pop restaurant and their son (who couldn't have been over 13) was puffing away on a little smoke break from washing dishes.

3. Spitting. They hack and spit -- all the time. Apparently this is less common than it once was, at least in the cities. The authorities have started fining people for doing it in public vehicles and on the street.

4. There has been a massive, apparently country-wide tree-planting campaign in the last few months. There are millions of pole-planted willows, cottonwoods, and other trees lining all of the highways and roads for about 15 meters out on each side. They even did these tree plantings in ridiculous places, such as terraced cliffs. Not sure if this effort was a PR attempt for the Olympics or not.

5. People here are very friendly. We are constantly being greeted with a big smile and "hullo!" from all sides. It's almost never mocking or unfriendly (as it often is in Latin America), but genuine and open. We've been asked to be in pictures several times -- apparently foreigners are as interesting as the tourist sites!

6. Dogs -- There are almost no big dogs in China. Most, even the strays, seem to be little (as in lapdog size). For the most part, they are well-cared for, too. I have great memories of a little Pekingese who ruled the street in Pingyao.

Alrighty! Next post will be about the Terracota Warriors. Later.

-matt!