Pingyao County

"The police will do neat police, at neat pace, three in a row, in twos". Sign outside Pingyao police station... Part of a whole series of information about how the police will behave. There is a similar set for the fire station and also because the whole town is largely wood on brick bases there are reminders that "fire watch is on everyone's head" on lots of buildings and at junctions.

We have walked stretches of the wall inside and out. Out by the south gate there is a large park where people do Tai Chi, fan dances (must be something different in China!) and other exercises. Today is looked like teenagers from school doing some sort of PE.

Inside the walls large sections are still clay rather than brick, and cheerfully, at various points where there is nowhere to run but into people's houses, there are sections which tell you that it is dangerous & do not stop. And on the opposite side of the road there is often a large heap of clay, so the warnings are not scaremongering.
The road just inside the wall is full of winding alleys, ambling dogs and of course people appearing out of nowhere on those sneaky electric scooters. So it is interesting in its own right. I popped into a small shop and bought unidentifiable snacks for the train. One might be fried chicken flavour pringles.. But who knows...

Eventually we came to South Street, one of the four main roads (guess what the others are called) that cross the town. We turned down to head back towards our hotel and ran straight into a procession of some kind - wedding we think, although there was no obvious bride. Though after the dancing people and decorated carts there were a number of dark cars with red ribbons on them she could have been in one of those.

FYI according to Marina the shops that front onto the main streets in the central pedestrian core cost around 100,000¥ per year. There must be a fortune to be made from souvenir hawking otherwise they couldn't command that price. South Street and the others sell principally lacquer boxes (often subject to import restrictions), carved chunks of glass (or nuts or something that appeared to be a dried potato... (When carved it produced a white bead too)), and what look like old ornaments: Buddhas, Maos, mahjong, old coins, and other random brass objects. Probably all brand new and carefully aged somewhere... I will think of these stalls every time I look at my little brass Mao.

Finally a fridge magnet was purchased along with a "burnt cheese" tart for me and a baked apple for dad and we set off back to the hotel... And ran into the wedding party, where I glimpsed an elaborately decorated young woman in one of the cars.

Back to the hotel to await our lift to the station. Whilst waiting we heard what sounded like fireworks?? . When Marina arrived we asked her about the procession - yes it was a wedding, there were a number in Pingyao today because it is a lucky day in the Chinese lunar calendar. This also accounted for the noise firecrackers to celebrate the wedding. Apparently the are no longer allowed in big cities but out here in Pingyao it is fine.
Last car ride here; this was another hair-raising ride through new Pingyao. The new city is being expanded at the rate of knots and a big new attraction is being built - Water Town, not an aquatic theme park but a vinegar production tour. At the station we were guided to the security barrier - there is x-ray baggage scanning at all stations and carefully initial ticket/passport checks just to get in. You get checked again before boarding the train.Read more