Alleys of Pingyao 平遥

The moment I looked at the stone streets of Pingyao I immediately beamed and thought how marvelous this place is. The fact that it was raining intermittently only helped to keep the visitors indoors. Much like other ancient Chinese towns, the town is densely packed and there are numerous alleys to get lost in. The map you hold needs to be detailed enough to show all the small alleys which permeate the town. Fortunately, there was no shortage of people trying to sell you maps. For some reason, English maps were slighty more expensive. I don’t think a lot of westerners would make their way here like the Chinese do.

Pingyao is like a medieval town come to life. True, most of that is done here it primarily for tourism. There are people who live here though but you almost never get to see them amidst the touristy places. Once in a while you may find insolated places which looks like were lifted from an encyclpedia. The high stone walls feel like you have been transported back to imperial China and any moment now a rickshaw may come running through. Much of Pingyao now is very orderly for better or for worse. At least, they can make a proper map of the place now.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/PingyaoAncientTown.kmz} zoom=19]