I've been wondering where the term "Chinese Red Light" came from, especially after noticing that not only do the Chinese not get out of their cars at red lights, but they rarely even stop! Yes, crossing the street, or riding in taxis and buses is pretty adventurous here!
We took an overnight train from Beijing to Pingyao, which turned out to be quite an uncomfortable experience - they didn't have any sleepers available, so we ended up sitting all night (12 hours) in tight quarters. Fortunately, the people we sat with were pretty small. It was a "real" Chinese experience I guess (as Matthias' mother points out), but I'm holding out for sleepers on the next overnight trip!
Pingyao was gorgeous (pictures on http://picasaweb.google.es/jrosenyc/BeyondBeijing) As the
guidebook points out, it has a "movie set quality" and is extremely touristy. But it is one of the only wallled cities in China that is well-preserved - pretty much the way it used to be centuries ago - with scores of traditional dwellings and courtyards and without modern development. A mixed blessing, as the town was too poverty-stricken over the past 100 years to develop, but the residents now benefit from growing tourism. We spent two days here, walking around one day and biking the other. It was great.We took the bus from Pingyao to Xi'an, which ended up taking 8 hours instead of the normal 6 hours due to construction .Matthias was happy, though, as the detour sent us through small mountain villages- infinitely more interesting than scenes from the expressway.
In Xi’an we enjoyed walking through the Muslim Quarter, which had lots of street food and merchandise on offer. We also went to see the Terra Cotta Army – touted as the eighth wonder of the world (probably because it was discovered only after the other seven were already chosen….) It was pretty impressive – an army of over 6000 life-size soldiers (no two alike) created in 200 BC. But we agreed that it wasn’t necessarily something we needed to see in person. Unlike the great wall (or the grand canyon for that matter) it’s not that much more impressive to see in person than to see in a film or book. Still, we enjoyed our visit to Xi’an.
Our train ride to Kaifeng was a different story, however. Since it was a day trip (about 8 hours) we decided we could handle what they call “hard seat” class again, but it was simply awful. The train was packed, and although our seats were numbered sequentially, they were in different
rows so we didn’t even get to sit together. Was a pretty rough eight hours, but we made it to Kaifeng just in time to check in to our hotel and catch the impressive night market in action. Kaifeng is located on the “silk route” between Xi’an and Shanghai, served as capital under a few old dynasties, and is a veritable market town. We walked the streets all day, checking out the fruits, vegetables, meats and wares for sale. And at night, they set up an additional market in the main square (fortunately, right by our hotel) with what seemed like hundreds of foods stalls. I had some pretty good dumplings with my beer, while Matthias sampled the bugs on a stick (see photo!)
We are now in Zhengzhou, which we only came to because our train to Shanghai leaves early tomorrow morning from here. We are traveling (I believe) “soft seat” class – which should mean comfortable seats and no overcrowding….we’ll see. Zhengzhou is a pretty big city by most standards (except China’s I guess) with 2 million inhabitants. We didn’t see much here (the temple where kung fu supposedly originated is nearby, but we didn’t go) but we did have a fabulous dinner at a Peking Duck restaurant. We were truly delighted, especially since both of our parents were disappointed with the Peking Duck they had when they were in Beijing, as the food was as good or better than the Peking Duck in the famous NYC restaurant, the service was great, and the bill came to a whopping $12. Fun to splurge now and then.
In Xi’an we enjoyed walking through the Muslim Quarter, which had lots of street food and merchandise on offer. We also went to see the Terra Cotta Army – touted as the eighth wonder of the world (probably because it was discovered only after the other seven were already chosen….) It was pretty impressive – an army of over 6000 life-size soldiers (no two alike) created in 200 BC. But we agreed that it wasn’t necessarily something we needed to see in person. Unlike the great wall (or the grand canyon for that matter) it’s not that much more impressive to see in person than to see in a film or book. Still, we enjoyed our visit to Xi’an.
Our train ride to Kaifeng was a different story, however. Since it was a day trip (about 8 hours) we decided we could handle what they call “hard seat” class again, but it was simply awful. The train was packed, and although our seats were numbered sequentially, they were in different
rows so we didn’t even get to sit together. Was a pretty rough eight hours, but we made it to Kaifeng just in time to check in to our hotel and catch the impressive night market in action. Kaifeng is located on the “silk route” between Xi’an and Shanghai, served as capital under a few old dynasties, and is a veritable market town. We walked the streets all day, checking out the fruits, vegetables, meats and wares for sale. And at night, they set up an additional market in the main square (fortunately, right by our hotel) with what seemed like hundreds of foods stalls. I had some pretty good dumplings with my beer, while Matthias sampled the bugs on a stick (see photo!)We are now in Zhengzhou, which we only came to because our train to Shanghai leaves early tomorrow morning from here. We are traveling (I believe) “soft seat” class – which should mean comfortable seats and no overcrowding….we’ll see. Zhengzhou is a pretty big city by most standards (except China’s I guess) with 2 million inhabitants. We didn’t see much here (the temple where kung fu supposedly originated is nearby, but we didn’t go) but we did have a fabulous dinner at a Peking Duck restaurant. We were truly delighted, especially since both of our parents were disappointed with the Peking Duck they had when they were in Beijing, as the food was as good or better than the Peking Duck in the famous NYC restaurant, the service was great, and the bill came to a whopping $12. Fun to splurge now and then.
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