Pingyao’s fifteen-hundred years of history
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007After a hellish first experience with third class travel in a developing nation, I literally squeezed myself by force out of the overcrowded train car and into the dusty streets of Pingyao. The first impression was of a more polluted but slightly smaller scale version of Beijing. Clouds of dust kicked up by a constant rush of motor-carts, bicycles and motorcycles. I heard this was an ancient walled Ming Dynasty City, but here I find myself in near third world urban sprawl?!?
Luckily the impression faded after passing through the city walls. Inside is a straight up third world city still hanging onto an era long passed. Old crumbling buildings covered in age-old dust wrapped around the random twists of cobblestone alleyways. This is the type of place I’ve been waiting for since I started my travels. [read on]
Adam Shane