Thursday, November 04, 2004
Pingyao
Pingyao is the halfway point in the journey from Beijing to Xi'an (home of
the terracotta army) ... and also makes it into the chapter highlights in
our bible - The Rough Guide... so we knew we HAD to visit. It is a walled
city in its original state from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (does anyone
know/care when they were? 1400 - 1911, I think). Anyway, it would take me
paragraphs to describe the city (think Indiana Jones meets The Last Emperor)
so you'll have to wait for the photos.
Basically after you've walked around the town and looked and the souvenir
hawkers the main activity in Pingyao is to walk the circuit on top of the
city walls (about 6km) - at least that's what the highlights section of the
Rough Guide told us to do! So off we went...
After a challenging conversation in mime with the 7 security guards manning
the entrance to the ramp up to the top of the wall we were directed to the
ticket booth around the corner. At the booth we discovered (shock horror)
that the admission price was 120 yuan each! That is roughly 8 pounds -
about double the cost of the Forbidden City! Pete (of course!) was FURIOUS
and treated everyone within earshot to his best Victor Meldrew impression
('I CAN'T BELIEVE IT').
Hearing the commotion we were approached by a wacky and very dirty
American woman who explained that the 120 bought entrance to not just the wall but 20 other tourist sites around the town as well... oh joy! The fact that we didn't want to see any of the other stuff didn't seem to matter. The 120
was non-negotiable. So we stormed off with the crazy American in tow, she
promised she would show us a place on the south-side of town where we could
climb the wall (20 feet high) and get up for free. It soon became apparent
that to scale the wall would be suicide so off we trotted to try Pete's next
idea... bribing the security guards. Unfortunately our offer of 100 yuan
(to share amongst 7 of them) didn't get very far (it was about 70 pence each
after all). So as a last ditch attempt we thought we might pass for
students (amazing but true) and get in for half price. Pete (he's in charge
of all the devious ripping off of chinese people that we do!) brazenly
marched up to the ticket window with 120 yuan, my Ontario driving license
and his Warner Music ID card. Can you believe it worked??!
the terracotta army) ... and also makes it into the chapter highlights in
our bible - The Rough Guide... so we knew we HAD to visit. It is a walled
city in its original state from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (does anyone
know/care when they were? 1400 - 1911, I think). Anyway, it would take me
paragraphs to describe the city (think Indiana Jones meets The Last Emperor)
so you'll have to wait for the photos.
Basically after you've walked around the town and looked and the souvenir
hawkers the main activity in Pingyao is to walk the circuit on top of the
city walls (about 6km) - at least that's what the highlights section of the
Rough Guide told us to do! So off we went...
After a challenging conversation in mime with the 7 security guards manning
the entrance to the ramp up to the top of the wall we were directed to the
ticket booth around the corner. At the booth we discovered (shock horror)
that the admission price was 120 yuan each! That is roughly 8 pounds -
about double the cost of the Forbidden City! Pete (of course!) was FURIOUS
and treated everyone within earshot to his best Victor Meldrew impression
('I CAN'T BELIEVE IT').
Hearing the commotion we were approached by a wacky and very dirty
American woman who explained that the 120 bought entrance to not just the wall but 20 other tourist sites around the town as well... oh joy! The fact that we didn't want to see any of the other stuff didn't seem to matter. The 120
was non-negotiable. So we stormed off with the crazy American in tow, she
promised she would show us a place on the south-side of town where we could
climb the wall (20 feet high) and get up for free. It soon became apparent
that to scale the wall would be suicide so off we trotted to try Pete's next
idea... bribing the security guards. Unfortunately our offer of 100 yuan
(to share amongst 7 of them) didn't get very far (it was about 70 pence each
after all). So as a last ditch attempt we thought we might pass for
students (amazing but true) and get in for half price. Pete (he's in charge
of all the devious ripping off of chinese people that we do!) brazenly
marched up to the ticket window with 120 yuan, my Ontario driving license
and his Warner Music ID card. Can you believe it worked??!
// posted by courtney and pete @ 20:06 
Comments:
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I soooo wish I was out there with you. First Basil Fawlty, then Victor Meldrew. Who's next? Hancock? Alf Garnett? Arthur Crabtree? Steptoe? Dr. Latimer (senior)? Ah, I know.........Wolfie.
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