Pingyao, Shanxi Province
Hi All,
we’ve put up some more photos in the Beijing II post, check em out!
Here we are in Pingyao, about 350km southwest of Beijing. This town, delared by UNESCO as World Heritage site a couple of years ago, and deservedly so, is an excellent example of what life was like in China about 200 years ago. The town is surrounded by an intact 6km wall. It was very prosperous from the 14th century onwards, when it became financial centre for northern China, with home to the first ever bank in China and possibly the world. It was mostly left behind in the modernisation drive that went on throughout most of china, until a few years back it was opened up on the tourist map, and its buildings have been protected by the state and UNESCO. As you walk around town there are lots of pristinely preserved courtyard buildings, the typical design of family homes in China. You can really picture the likes of the characters in Crouching Tiger, Sleeping Dragon hopping from one courtyard to the next over the tiled roofs. It was worth coming to China just to stop here and check out this place. Amazing! And the people are so friendly here too, making it a great place to stay!
Check out the photos:
South St. Pingyao:
Typical courtyard in Pingyao, our hotel was just like this…:
Temple St, Pingyao:
The Girls at Sakura Cafe (Jasmine, Eileen ,Sky & Quene ):
Old Man Cycling in Pingyao:
Old Man outside Temple of the Gods:
Is that a real Ming Dynasty Vase???
Our hotel room!
Three little school kids
Tres solecitos
James & Quene
I love the childs, i love the old people… and you look wonderful, James, as a Ming Dinasty Vase?… (Did you take it as souvenir?)
It’s a lovely place.
Quene, i saw you have a stick. Please, tell me how is your awkle. If you go with it is because you need it, you are usually strong and no mind those things.
I will show that picture quick to la mamma, so she will not realize the detail. Or i can say it’s a local costumen… : )
Take care, keep warm, here in Madrid is coming the coooold !
Love
Shalom
.
Heey!! These are such _GREAT_ photos. It is cool you are getting off the beaten path, we just didnt have the time. How much was the hotel room, and where are the blankets!! How did you get to Pingyao, what was the transport like?
I have generally not been someone to go mushy over kids but ohmigod Chinese children are the cutest on the planet dont you think?
Hope ye are not too cold – we were in Beijing in February and it was a shock to the system – especially seeing the Summer Palace lake iced over!! (Is that the one with the big marble boat, I could be mixing up the Summer and Winter palaces…)
Keep it coming!
Mir
The kids were lovely , when they saw us , they stop to say hello and they posed for the camera.
There are lots of old people here , very fit , I ask so many to take a pic but not all of them agreed.. I want to take very close portraits of people but is not that easy…!
When I walk on the street with the stick everybody turns around thinking is a Samurai sword .. is very funny !! , my feet is nearly ok , we are going up and down and walking for miles so I have it as a support ..that’s it.
Dile a mama que estoy bien .. que es para quedar interesante en las fotos ..jajajaj!!
We put the vase in the pocket in case we need to drink water on the train ;).
On the streets they sell antiques, they have wonderful things , I already bought two little pendant ( I think is Jade and silver if not , I don’t care they are lovely ) , but I have to think in the lack of space, there was a beautiful mirrow and a magnifying glass ( lupa) from last century (ca. 1898) in silver with chinese decorations , I didn’t ask the price because it means you are interested and the shopkeeper don’t leave you alone following you until you buy it ..
So I promise myself that I have to come back to Pingyao empty bagged.
Tonight we take the train to Xian, to see the terracota warriors.
Kisses pa to’s
You guys,
Now don’t be incouraging Mairead with that cute kiddie talk, we have to fix the fire place first, and get the carpets and then maybe then we can talk cute kids.
Cool photos,
get plenty photos of people for sure, one thing I regretted we didn’t do enough of. They look so different and there faces say alot more than our baby-white-tv-watching-its-cold-im-not-going-out faces.
Buy stuff and mail it home if you can wrap it up.
Chow,
Ruairi.
Nice article! Can you report about the state of conservaqtion of this UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Paloma y agustin say
Paloma y agustin. nos alegramos mucho de que tu patita este mejor. Cada vez son mas bonitas las fotos que enviais, no se que vais a dejar para el final , debe ser el cielo. No decis nada de si el vaso es plegable para llevar. Nos alegra veros con esa cara de satisfaccion , quiere decir que lo estais pasando pipa. Hubiera sido una lastima que no se os hubierais decidido a hacer este viaje.
Ahora nos imaginamos todo lo que pueden ver los millonarios de pasta o de ilusiones.
Paloma esta disfritando con las fotos como una enana. Ya sabeis lo que le gusta viajar.
Lo que dices de los primeros planos , ya sabes teleobjetivo al canto . si te dejan hacer un plano largo , puedes convertirlo en corto o primer plano con el teleobjetivo.
Prueba y ya veremos la maravilla. Como lo mismo te da hacer una foto larga que corta, haz las dos. Me imagino que en las ciudades estareis descargando la memoria de la camara en Cd’s,
Besotes de chupachus.
i haven’t received your e-mail yet.
could you please send to my e-mail again?
i’m looking forward to your e-mail^.^
Hi Guys ,
We were answering all the queries but the **** computer has a virus and when you copy and paste , just paste “Hello!” . so we will try tomorrow.
Kisses to all.
Hola WAPOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSS!!!!!
Uf!, por fin.. cuanto tiempo…. es que he estado liadilla con mis cosas y como no tengo internet en mi studio se me olvidaba mirarlo las veces que tenía ordenador en casa de mi madre… y bueno, disculpas a un lado…. QUE PASADA DE VIAJEEEEEE!!!! y que no se me olvide… MILLONES DE GRACIAS POR LAS POSTALEEEEESSSSSS!!!! jeejejjej es que me acabo de ver los dos últimos meses de vuestro viaje y me he emocionado… y necesitaba gritaros las cosillas above jejje.
Jo, una de las cosas que más me emocionó ver es la foto de la Quenecilla haciendo ese curso de pintura en seda… que way…supongo que todo esto estará llevando tu artist side a niveles insospechados…. me alegro tanto…. :)))))
Yo chicos estuve en Marruecos… vaya experiencia, y cuando vi las foto de Deli entendí perfectamente lo que queríais decir con lo del ruido y la locura de la ciudad por que en Marraquesh era igual…
En fin.. donde vais ahora???? cuando vais a NZ??? me encantaría unirme pero estoy cerrando unos cursos de sonido que quiero hacer (casi seguro que en Madrid) y no se si me lo voy a poder permitir…. pero bueno… informadme igualmente que lo voy a mirar jejejj, el gusanillo viajero ataca de nuevo…
Me encantan las fotos que habeis sacado hasta ahora… creo que estais haciéndonos ver realmente lo que estais viviendo… y eso no es tan facil… well done nenitos :)))
Cris, siento lo de tu pie… espero que te recuperes pronto y podais seguir vuestro camino sin mas incidentes…..
… y sin más… millones de besos pareja…. os deseo lo mejor… prometo estar en continuo contacto a partir de ahora 😉 Oceans of Loooooveeeeeee
Mairead,
glad you like the pics! We had fun taking them! Those kids were really so cute, as Pingyao has a International Photography Festival, we guessed they were used to photography and just stop and pose whenever they see someone with a camera, funny!!!
Ruari,
I think Mairead came up with that herself, we just took the picture! Guess that’s her just being subtle!!! So hurry up and get that fireplace fixed, no need for carpets, wood floors are all the rage! HINT HINT!!!!
Slowly plucking up more courage to take photos of people, but usually you need to ask and most times they shake their heads 🙁 , but we’ll persist!
Agustin Y Paloma (y Beita),
nos alegra que estais viajando con nosotros como se peude! A veces hay que pedir permiso a sacar photos de primer plano, a veces se molesta si lo sacas sin preguntar, asi que vamos preguntando permiso a la gente, a veces si y a veces no…
Matthias,
Es freut uns sehr dass die WebSeite Ihnen interessiert! We found Pingyao to be very well preserved and very clean. In the centre of the old town motorised vehicles are not permitted entry during the day, so it’s mostly pedestrianised, there are cyclists and cycle rickshaws and the occasional electric golf cart taxis! Most of the buildings are in an excellent state of repair, and many are opened as museums highlighting the function of that particular building, many were once banks, some are still functioning temples, and others were grand houses of rich families. To see any of the museums you must buy a combined entry ticket for 120yuan (approx 12euro) which entitles you to visit 20 of the museums/houses/temples over a three day period! There really is lots to see! If you get a chance to visit China you should definitely visit Pingyao.
Annie,
I never received your email either, can you mail me again at quenedm@hotmail.com!
Inma,
que pasaaaa kolegaaa!!!! Pues nos alegra que has leido todo! Si, las fotos molan verdad? Esperamos que nos seguiras con el viaje! Dile a Cris G, y a los demas que se apuntan y lo vean, no se sabe si lo han visto o no, comeo no dejan un comentario, no se sabe 🙁
Si te subes a Madrid ponte en contacto con mi hermana, aqui se escribe amenudo bajo el nombre Calenco. Nos tenemos planeado estar en Nueva Zealanda a los finales de Febrero/principio de Marzo! Si puedes, molaria verte al otro lado del mundo!
That’s all for now folks!
We will work on our next post for Xi’an…
Kisses, Besos, Gruesse!
James & Quene
Hey!James and Cristina!What’s up guys?We are the students of Mr.Finnerty.We are group7,Carol,Tereace,Paul and Haward.We saw the”Great Wall”and the ‘Terracotta Warriors’in the internet,we want to go to see the ‘Great Wall’ and go to Xi ’an.We are the Chinses but we never been to ‘Great Wall’.We think you have many money~
Because you have been to many place.We like travell very much!Do you like travelling?
Carol,Tereace,Paul,Haward
Hello Quene I llevo un good new year and you como lo llevas? de parte de my mother que te quiere bueno good bye Bombay