Pingyao - Saturday 9th July

We had a great nights sleep, perhaps the medieval bed in a box design will make a come back.

After breakfast we borrowed bikes from the hotel and pedalled out through the old city wall, through the hot and dusty new town of Pingyao and headed east to find yet another temple. This time the Buddhist Shuanglin Temple.
This gentle ride of 2 or 3 miles through the countryside turned out to be 5 or 6 miles along a very busy main road that is predominantly used by poorly maintained 40 ton  coal lorries belching out black fumes and blasting their horns. I'm sure they think the horn is a speed boost button.

Once we turned off the main road the countryside became visible and we cycled down a tree lined road between corn fields towards the temple. Shuanglin is an old temple still in daily use and has not had to endure the renovations seen elsewhere. It was very calm and peaceful with lots of large wooden carvings from the 13th century.

Outside the the temple was a local market in the single narrow street of the village. Due to the lack of tourists to this village we gained a pseudo celebrity status with children and adults all wanting to say hello and smile at us. Enjoyed a handmade fried ball that was like a round donut filled with a sweet bean mixture.

The ride back was more hair-raising than getting there. The one and only roundabout in town is obviously only there for ornamentation because nobody follows one direction around it. So with bells dinging we swerved our way between cars, bikes and golf carts to the other side. It's still amazing how there are not constant accidents.

After a shower we packed, checked out and stored our bags ready for tonight's short (only 10 hours) train ride to Xi'an.

While Eva went off to kill some time by having a foot massage, in a place that also advertised "cervical massage" as a service (I'm hoping that was a translation error), I went off with Dominic to get some street food for lunch.

We found a guy cooking noodles in a wok on a street corner with 1 small table under a sheet of plastic for shade. There were a couple local girls already eating at the table so we sat down and with a lot of smiling, nodding and pointing we ordered what they were eating.  The chef sprang into life. Chopping, stirring and frying a sizzling mixture of noodles,sausage, spring onions, ginger, garlic, chilli, etc. in minutes we were each enjoying  a large bowl of hot, spicy noodles.

Fresh food cooked while you wait

During the time it took us to eat we became local celebrities with the chefs wife and son, along with a number of inquisitive locals all gathering around, smiling and trying to talk to us. Great fun and we even had to write a note of recommendation for the chef before we left.

Another observation that we had noted during our short time in China was the alternative arrangement to nappies for toddlers. Shorts or trousers with a split in the rear for ease of toileting. I bet they don't suffer with nappy rash :-)



We had a short time to relax before getting the train and already the conversation had turned to bodily functions. Although we had all avoided the need to use a squatter toilet so far, the stomach rumblings suggested that our luck would run out soon!