Arriving early morning in Pingyao, we got stuck straight into the local sites with a day trip to see the “Wang Family Courtyard” and Zhangbi Underground Castle.
Both were superb but the show stopper was the underground castle! It was only discovered 20 years ago when residents of the little village above noticed sink holes appearing around town. Excavation started, unearthing a 1400 year old network of Sui dynasty tunnels built as part of a defense network against a feared attack from Tang invaders. To see the castle we had to join a Chinese tour group to stop us from getting lost in more than 1500m of tunnels on 3 separate levels, the deepest of which drops 26m.
Above ground the tiny cobble-stoned village of Zhangbi Cun trundles along as it has for generations. The Chinese construction boom has passed it over and walking it’s narrow lanes was just as, if not more rewarding than it’s subterranean secret.
Before visiting Zhangbi, we stopped by the Wang Family Courtyard. The name doesn’t quite do justice to the impressive 123 courtyards of this former palatial residence for the whole Wang family. Rather surprisingly it was snowing heavily and made looking around even more atmospheric, if not a little bit chilly.
The following morning however we woke to a beautiful sunny day – perfect for renting bikes and exploring Pingyao. Known for being the country’s best preserved ancient walled city, peddling down the narrow alleys off the main drag is a great way of getting a feel for the city and seeing the locals go about their daily lives. Fueling all this was several stops at local bakeries and the infamous Big Noodles snack shop.
Having spent a couple of great days in Pingyao, we decided to take trip out of town and see something a bit different. Early the next morning we set off for the tiny Ming town of Qikou set snuggly between mountains and the Yellow river. The town is well off the main tourist road and villagers are still so excited to see “foreigners” they either run away or run for you. We visited the Black Dragon Temple set in the mountains overlooking the village and strolled around the cobbled streets and courtyards of the town below. Later that afternoon we started our trek into the mountains in search of the 550 year old village of Lijiashan, a cluster of cave dwellings hugging the hillside of a remote valley. Arriving just before sunset we found Mr Li who had a spare cave available and we spent the evening exploring the incredible little village. At one time the town had over 600 families, most named Li, but today the population is just over 40. That night the Li family cooked us a basic but delicious dinner and we had a very cozy sleep in an enormous traditional “kang” bed (stone bed with a coal fire attached as a heater). The next morning at sunrise we were packed off with a breakfast of home-baked Mantou and boiled eggs as we set out for our hike back through the fruit trees to catch our bus back to Pingyao.
The following day we spent relaxing in Pingyao and caught a sleeper train to Xi’an where we’ve spent the last few days planning, planning and more planning and preparing for our trip to Tibet.
Having squared away our Tibet tour we spent the rest of our time visiting the amazing Terracotta Soldiers, Forest of Stelae museum and the Muslim quarter for some more delicious but slightly weird food.
The terra-cotta soldiers were something we were both looking forward to seeing and it really does not disappoint! Seeing Qin Shi Huang’s army, undiscovered for 2000 years, is quite a lot to take in in one visit. His attempt to continue his rule in the after life lay shattered in pieces now, with excavation work continuing.
On our last day we popped into the Forest of Stelae Musuem where over 3000 stelae (inscribed stone tablets), including the 9 Confucian classics and the Nestorian tablet (AD 781, the earliest recorded account of Christianity in China). The museum is also known for it’s examples of early Chinese calligraphy and evolution of Chinese script.
We also spent a couple of evenings in the Muslim quarter eating roasted lamb kebabs, cold satay noodles and the show (and heart) stopper…fried veggies and fried egg stuffed into fried bread. After dinner Patti indulged in a little “light” bargaining and came away with a small army of terracotta soldiers of her own.
With our time in Xian drawing to a close we faced another logistical nightmare of how to spend the week leading up to our departure for Tibet. With camel trekking in Dunhuang proving just too difficult to squeeze in, we made some last minute changes and hopped on an overnight train to the Sichuanese capital of Chengdu. We arrived safely this afternoon and spent the rest of the day walking downtown to see the giant Chairman Mao statue and watching oldies practice their Tai Chi as the sun set over the People’s Park and eating typical Sichuanese food for dinner which consisted of some of our favourite dishes: salty green beans and spicy fried eggplant/aubergine. Tonight we are staying in an amazing converted printing factory called the Loft!
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