Ancient Walls and Kung Fu

I'm in the city of Pingyao (Shanxi province, south west of Beijing), which is a Unesco World Heritage site and a beautifully preserved walled town. It became a commerce and finance centre during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the wealthy merchants built themselves some nice pads and a wall around the outside. Many of the pads are now museums and I think I've visited around 15 of them. It's great to see things that relate to daily lives, and the buildings really are beautiful, often made up of several courtyards and gardens, with rooms displaying fantastic artwork, wooden carved furniture, lacquerware screens, embroidered tapestries, scrolls and calligraphy, paintings and vases. There's a mass of information, too, although most of it is only in Chinese, a good thing as it would really be information overload otherwise.

Some of the banks set up branches across China, and had a well developed messaging system for carrying out transactions. They also had bodyguards to escort the gold and silver, and bodyguard companies developed, based on the reputations of their staff, all kung fu masters. There are courtyards for practising, with many fearsome weapons on show. The goods were transported in special cases with the flags of the bodyguard company on display. I do wonder if they might have had less trouble if they had been a bit less conspicuous!

Pingyao has a tourist trade, but it's much quieter here than the hotspots of Beijing. (I spent all day at the Forbidden City just before leaving. It was worth it but quite exhausting.) Most tourists are Chinese but lots of couples and a few families, not so many large groups, although every now and then a courtyard will suddenly be swamped with 25 people all wearing identical yellow caps. There are some westerners around but not many, so you do get stared at a bit (that happened in Beijing also). I've been asked to pose in photos with people a few times. One girl was so excited about being in a photo with me that she jumped up and down on the spot. Another family wanted a picture of me and their two-year-old boy, but he wasn't having any of it, so we had to give up. Talking of photography, this is a great place for it and I've seen some flash gear around. I've finally got my monopod out of the backpack and am having some success with indoor shots and narrow aperture shots in daylight. It's not much use at night though. Sorry, some camera geekiness there. I'm having trouble collapsing it back now that I've extended it, so whether it will go back into the backpack when I leave tomorrow is another matter.

I have a private room here, which is great as it's an old-style room with a kang (bed on a brick base) and traditional furniture, off a beautiful wooden courtyard. It does mean you don't get talking to other people like you do in a dorm. But I was pleased to bump into German Chris on my first night, who did the same Mongolia tour as me. He was staying at the hostel across the street! And this morning I bumped into Patrick, who I also met in Mongolia. I'm meeting him and his girlfried Julie tonight for dinner. Maybe between us we can sort out my monopod - I might take it along just in case.

Next stop Huang Shan national park. Till then take care.
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