Pingyao wasn’t as great as I thought it was going to be. It’s meant to be one of the last remaining, or the most beautiful walled cities in China. Whilst it is pretty (in parts), it’s a massive tourist trap. I spent my two days there cycling around the city (which was actually excellent) and going to some of the sites in the surrounding countryside.

The journey from Beijing was spent on a grotty overnight sleeper, which was the only train left that had any soft sleeper places available. When I boarded, there was actually someone in my bed, but as soon as I opened the compartment door they left and changed to another one. I was the only one in the compartment for a few hours at the end and the lack of cleanliness and a general lack of heat made it a bit of an unpleasant journey.

Once I was in Pingyao, I found my hostel and managed to check-in, despite the un-helpfullness of the receptionist. Two other guests, both sat in the same room, both said that they had had exactly the same problem the day before and offered to help. Not long after, everything was sorted. During the evening, Bob, the hostel owner, offered to organise a trip to the defence tunnels in a nearby castle. Early the next day, both Olaf and I discovered that the trip wasn’t going to go ahead, so I went next door and hired a bicycle for 10 RMB (£1) and cycled around the city walls for the day. The city itself was interesting and this changed again at night, but I would say the best bit (or the most exciting discovery) was what seemed like an abandoned media complex. There’s an international photography festival in Pingyao every year and I can only assume that it is held there. At the moment however, it is an urban-explorer’s dream. This I found at the end of the day, had a few whizzes round on my bicycle and went back to the hostel to return it.

Day two was spent going on an extended sight-seeing tour in the nearby countryside. Instead of going just to the defence tunnels, we were also going to the Wang Family Home, which was a huge site made up from a load of courtyards. It was good, but what I was really there for was the defence tunnels. Olaf, my German friend for the weekend, accompanied me on an English tour, on which we were the only attendees. We got a tour of the top-side castle (more of a walled village) and the network of restored defence tunnels below. The tour was interesting and we left feeling satisfied.

After the bus ride back to the hostel, Olaf and I bumped into some Dutch travellers he had met earlier the same day in another hostel and we had lunch together. They had been across Russia too, but had been to North Korea instead of South. I asked them a load of questions about that and we went our separate ways. I said goodbye to Olaf later the same day and I hung around and waited for my next train to Luoyang.