Red Lanterns in Pingyao

Pingyao is an old Han Chinese city with its original Ming dynasty era wall intact. This is the place to come if you want a glimpse into imperial China. The streets and many of the original buildings remain unchanged, making the experience of stepping through the west gate akin to time travelling. Red lanterns hang at every door. Many of the buildings are now guesthouses and restaurants catering to tourists. It was at the Qiao family courtyard house near this city that Zhang Yimou's film Raise the Red Lantern was shot.

I arrived yesterday morning to a grey and damp Pingyao. The clouds were three feet from the top of my head. It was like walking through a black and white movie with the occassional red lantern providing a spark of colour. The city that sprawls around the walls reminds me of Jodhpur. It is dirty, overcrowded and the air is thick with exhaust fumes. The taxis in this part of China are golf carts covered in plastic tarps. For some strange reason they closed some of the gates to the town when it really started pouring down, making the golf cart ride back to the walled city unnecessarily long. The cart couldn't take me to my guesthouse and I stood for a few minutes under a roof looking lost. A woman from a store across the street came over and gave me an umbrella. Realising I was completely lost, I randomly ran into a guesthouse to avoid being swept away by the torrent of muddy water that was cascading down the streets (literally). I wasn't the only one taking shelter here. Turns out the German Volkswagen rally team I came across in UB was also there. One of the guys must have been really bored with his teammates. He offered me a ride to X'ian within 30 seconds of a conversation that went something like this:

Me: "Man, it's really coming down. It's pretty depressing."
He: "Yes, we are here from Germany driving to Lhasa through X'ian."
Me: "Oh, that's where I am heading tomorrow."
He: "Do you want a ride? There is more than enough room in the car."
Me: "Are you sure that's okay? Who is your driver?"

Needless to say that the leader of his team did not want to take on an extra person (insurance reasons). He did take me along to a temple nearby though to meet the remainder of his rally mates.

Back at the hostel I was drenched. The entertainment for the day turned out to be two Dutch guys telling me stories about going to parties near their home and subsequently waking up without wallets and money in various parts of Europe. Around 5pm I started sneezing and feeling that little tickle in my nose. The Dutch cure was a non-descript pill washed down with beer. That was followed by an American couple feeding me firew water with a 53% alcohol content. None of it did any good. I hardly remember going to sleep and today I have a cold.