How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : China Trip Report Day 5: Pingyao ancient city

Day 5, March 20, 2018, Tuesday:

D train Beijing-Pingyao:

We had an early train to catch from Beijing west train station. We had already collected our booked tickets. We just needed to reach the station, go thru security and look for our waiting room from where we should board our train at its assigned platform. Boarding gates close 5 minutes before scheduled departure.

Andingmen bus stop has Direct bus no 2 to Beijing West railway station to catch high speed trains to Pingyao/ Xi'an etc...this stop is surprisingly on the other direction, we just have to get down at the middle portion of the bridge.

We had wanted to take a taxi but the hotel staff don't do that service. After repeated attempts to get them to help with taxi, we had the option of taking the metro or the bus to catch our early morning 7,46 am train from Beijing west to Pingyao. Since metro involves 2 transfers as well as the stairs to enter, we decided on the bus.

The hotel guy repeatedly confirmed the direction was the same as the bus 44 we had taken.

We waited at the wrong place from 5.15 am for an hour and found our mistake quite late. We again schleped our bags up and down the pedestrian bridge to the other side, got into the bus that just turned up at 6.15, miraculously made it on time to check in as the last people for our train!!

This story is to flag that no taxi help can be expected from some hotels. We tried other options/ travel agents, and also tried to hail taxis but nothing worked.

We had prints of Chinese sentences for showing to railway staff for buying new tickets in case we missed our booked train. Thankfully we did not need such assistance for the whole of our trip.

The train was going full, so can only imagine what it must be in peak season!

Luggage racks overhead were all occupied, we just kept our bags near our legs and managed for the 4 hour trip. Got to the entrance before our station arrived and deboarded easily.

Pingyao Hotel:

Our Pingyao hotel had emailed us asking if we wanted a taxi pickup but we had not confirmed to them. We got out of the station, there were a line of cars outside, not taxis. We got into one after confirming the price as 40 CNY and reached our hotel just inside the north gate of ancient city. It's car free, so we got out and walked the short distance to our hotel.

Street view here:

http://map.qq.com/#pano=12071024131103123855400&heading=222&pitch=1&zoom=2

This is an awesome property in a beautiful ancient city. Authentic courtyard with a lovely temple and art work on site. The room is beautiful with antique beds.

It's right inside the city wall, so easy to walk in from the taxi from the high speed ancient city train station. Owner has lovely taste, adding in framed wall paper décor to add to the ambience.

Owner speaks excellent English, arranged airport transfer for our train to Xian at 30CNY. We had paid 40CNY catching our own taxi when we arrived. He also arranged a taxi for the whole day, 250 CNY to Wang family courtyard and Shuanglin Temple, picked us up at 7am. The lady gave us some traditional stickers as gift when we left. Thoroughly enjoyed the town and this hotel, a highlight among several other highlights in our 16 day vacation.

We checked in and then walked just outside the walls to get our combo ticket. The combo ticket is valid for three days and includes 22 attractions, but visitors are allowed to visit each attraction only once. If you just wander around inside the city and don't enter the scenic spots, a ticket is not required but the Attractions are really AWESOME

Founded during the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 771 BC) and rebuilt in 1370, the Ancient City of Pingyao is now one of China's four best preserved old cities together with Lijiang Old Town, Huizhou Ancient City and Langzhong Ancient City. What is unique here is the well preserved ancient city with a grand City Wall, traditional residences, former security guard companies, time-honored shops, and even the previous government office.

The Ancient Ming-Qing Street gives a glimpse of the past prosperity of the Pingyao Ancient City. Serving as the central axis, it has been the busiest commercial block of the city for hundreds of years. This 450-yard-long street gathers around 80 antique stores.

200-year-old Rishengchang Exchange Shop, located near the center of the Ancient City, is the first 'bank' in China's history and is known as the 'Father of the Bank in China'. It once controlled the lifeblood of the nation's economy in the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911), with more than 30 branches throughout the country.

We managed to see 3 attractions on the first day and were so captivated by the old world charm. There are hardly any foreign visitors to this lovely city, it's such a GEM

The map they gave with the ticket is of course in Chinese and we had not managed to get any English map. We just entered places with a turnstile which meant it was a museum and thoroughly enjoyed what we saw.

This is probably the Temple of City God. Cheng Huang Temple or the Temple of the Gods is one of the most preserved temples in China. It has a great wealth of wooden and stone sculptures, paintings and murals.

Qing Xu Guan Taoist Temple is the largest Taoist temple in Pingyao,

The Rishengchang Exchange Shop (Rishengchang literally meaning sunrise prosperity) established in 1823 during the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911). it operated for 108 years.

During the Qing Dynasty China's currency was silver coin and there were obvious problems relating to security and convenience if traders had to carry large sums of money in coin form. The exchange shops offered a convenient alternative and thus bills of exchange came into use and an early form of banking created. Cash deposited at one branch could become payable by means of a bill at another as a secure method of transferring funds from one businessman to another regardless of time and distance.

first courtyard has four cashier's offices on either side of the passage that runs along the axis of the compound.

In the second courtyard, three halls were used for the exchange business. there are also rooms which housed the staff who worked in the exchange shop, while the second storey served as store rooms.

The third courtyard served as accommodation for the senior staff and due to its location away from the noise of the road also provided a resting place for important customers.

For security, a net made from metal thread was fixed over the top of the whole compound. Small bells were hung on the net to sound a warning if intruders tried to enter the premises.