Pingyao

Pingaya, I have to call it the magnificent walled city, it feels ancient but yet very modern. Tourists every where but yet not so clutter. Just enough amount of people and tradition. I enjoyed walking through the Bazar seeing the traditional face, curved rooftops and all the traditional Chinese souvenir. I love the fact that Cars are not allowed in the ‘real’ centre so there are lots of bicycles but otherwise it’s amazing to be relax and walk down a street.

Perhaps the best part of this well preserved ancient city is the wall.

Along the streets, on both sides there are two-story shops and the rear sections of these structures are the courtyard houses or the Siheyuan, same as seen in Beijing Hutong.

      

The major buildings are mostly made of the bricks similar to houses in Beijig. There is also lot of the traditional brick or wood carvings.

One the most interesting fact about this city is that Pingyao is an old banking town. It was one of the richest cities in China during the last two dynasties.

We stayed in the traditional Pingya that was located in one of the ancient buildings. Our room followed the same theme of the rest of the city and the best part was a semi private courtyard. The whole experience was like stepping back to the empire China and I enjoyed every minutes of it!