Sunshine (and some snow!) in Pingyao

After a hectic but great few days in Beijing we were excited to be leaving the city and heading inland to a more rural setting.  We left early on Sunday morning and caught the Metro to Beijing West station – the biggest railway station in Asia.  Potentially disastrous but we managed to find it without too many problems (pointing at words in a guide book can get you a surprisingly long way!) despite my constant moaning about the weight of my backpack and the miserable weather.  God knows what I’d do without Dan because he has somehow managed to navigate us everywhere without ever getting us too lost!  My sense of direction and ability to map read is shocking.  But I’m always happy to ask for help, unlike some!!

The station was enormous but thankfully had plenty of English signs and translations so we quickly made our way to the waiting area for our train, which was similar to an airport waiting lounge; it was really big with shops and cafes and nowhere near enough chairs for the hundreds of people packed into it.  The Chinese queuing technique is great – it all seems very civilised at first but once the doors open it’s every man for himself as the crowd surges forward in a mad rush to get to the front.  There was no need for us to join in with this; we had our seats booked on the train.  But somehow we got caught up in it all and were pushing and shoving our way through with the rest of them.  Our big backpacks definitely worked in our favour on this occasion! Click here to read more…