Pingyao

Since we did the two things we wanted to in Datong in our first whole day there (the tour), we decided to leave early and head out to Pingyao. To do this we had to take a three hour bus ride to Tiyuan, then take a city bus from one bus station to the other bus station. Once we got to the second bus station we new we were in for an adventure. The line outside the bus station to just get in was as long as the line for Batman at Great America. they had the back and forth lines set up. Thankfully most people actually waited in line, minus the two or three people that found it totally acceptable to jump the line right in front of my face. No guilt about doing this either! Once we got in through security like 15 minutes later, we had no idea which counter we needed to go to, so I just picked a number and shoved my way up there while blocking all the other people trying to cut in front me! We get to the front and the ticket lady just looks at us and says "mayo" (don't have). We walked away ultra confused and a bit panicked. People told us that even on National day, getting short distance buses shouldn't be a problem. But looking around the busy bus station I was starting to doubt what everyone said. Then out of no where this girl shows up and shows us her ticket to Pingyao that was leaving in ten minutes! How the heck did she get a ticket when the ticket counter person said she was out!? Well knowing this information I sent Brandon to fight his way up to the ticket counter again. We were going to find a way to get to Pingyao no matter what! Well he worked his way up there while I stood with the bags. I kept an eye on his since he was about a foot taller than everyone in the giant crowd by the counter. Five minutes, ten minutes go by and nothing.   Brandon at one point looked at me and just mouthed "ten minutes". I was like ooooook. I mean what else are we going to do other than wait. Then out of no where, the entire crowd by the counter started shouting and waving cash around in the air as if they were on the trading floor fighting over hog ad cattle prices. I was like wtf mate! A minute later Brandon comes out of the masses with a baffled look on his face and two tickets to Pingyao in his hands. Bus leaving in ten minutes! Turns out while in line this little girl who knew like 3 words of English just told him to wait ten minutes and so he waited. At one point,  behind the counter someone started printing something and the tension in the air grew. Then out of nowhere the tickets went on sale and the money in his hand was taken and then replaced by change and two tickets. The little girl up front with him just took care of it. We still to this day haven't figured out what the people behind the counter were waiting for and why the madness had to take place. We have a theory that all the bus tickets were either sold or reserved before hand. So if people don't come and pick up the reserved tickets, they go back on sale to the public tens mins before the bus leaves. We could be wrong, but it makes sense in our head.

Anyways, so we got on the bus and were on our way! Pingyao! Here we come. :) And here is what we found there:

The courtyard of our hostel recommended by Lonely Planet, Harmony Guesthouse. We had called every place in our guidebooks wanting to make reservations but they were all full! We finally found this place that was ultra expensive, so we figured we would just try to drop by Harmony, just in case they had a last minute cancellation. And lucky us! They had a room for us for our four days! This is also where we ran into the Dutch couple from Datong.

The cutesy streets of Pingyao. It's this square of one square mile that is surrounded by a huge wall and is just full of walking streets. All the flags were up for National Day. We just walked around singing America the Beautiful. They never specified which nation they were talking about... hahah :)

Market Tower

So we wanted a pic infront of the Market Tower so we stood around looking for an Asian (there were like only 5 other non-asians in town that day so we weren't expecting much) with a fancy camera around their neck thinking that they would at least know how to use mine. Well we found one who was willing to take a picture and this is what we got: us and no Market Tower. O well, I know you believe me when I tell you we were there.

View of Pingyao from the Market Tower.

John Lennon in da house.

Streets of Pingyao

Non shopping part of Pingyao. Feels like a farm

Found a Catholic Church. It was behind the chain locked doors. Guess we're not allowed to see it.

Nine Dragon Screen.

Pingyao is in coal country. Everyone heats their homes with coal. All the "dust" you see on all the souvenirs is actually coal dust. It's gross. You can definitely feel it in the air. So I wasn't so surprised when I just saw a huge pile of it in the middle of a street.

Decorative buildings

So apparently the Chinese like to sell matches as souvenirs. Not only that but they sell Zippos and other smoking accessories. Kinda not cool, but at least the matches are interesting. Check out the Chinglish on these!

This was alittle less funny.

Some other tower in Pingyao.

Night time shopping

Soooo flipping full of people. The first night we got here, there were practically no people on the streets. Then the next day out of nowhere, it feels like thousands of people appeared. I learned really quickly that I hate traveling on Chinese national holidays. There are soooo many of them in tours with their little guides and cameras and bare butt babies! And all the prices are ridiculous! Some lady tried to charge me 20RMB (about 3USD) for a Magnum icecream bar which usually costs 5RMB (less than 1USD). I wasn't going to fall for it, so I decided to not buy it. :( I had to wait til I got home to get my icecream cone. O and on another note, Brandon wanted a Coke Zero but didn't want to over pay either. We found a can of Coke Zero in one store (which is totally unheard of, the can part) and the lady quoted the same ridiculous price. The we asked what the regular bottle cost and it was the same price. So we kind of looked at each other and then verified with the sales person that the can which was only 500ml and the bottle which was 750ml cost the same? And she said yes. OOOOOO China!

Brandon waving at this fortress that we went to on our 3rd day in Pingyao.

For those wondering, my actual Bday came and went with nothing exciting to report other than it was the first full day in Pingyao (the fact that we left Datong early meant I didn't spend my actual bday on buses). I was a bit sick and Pingyao isn't particularly full of entertainment. So the day was spent walking around and taking pictures enjoying the smallness of the town. I was hoping to enjoy the quiet and lack of people, however, that was ruined due to the arrival of thousands of Asian tourists. :D