Pingyao, China
July 30, 2004

The oldest complete city in China, Pingyao feels like you've gone back in time 300 years. 
It's cool for architecture, and street scenes, but it also makes for a very dirty scenario. 
Yang Jia and I only stayed for a day here.

We arrived here at 5:30 am and it was raining so we had to find a pace to get breakfast 
for a few hours before venturing out into town.  Once the rain stopped we walked around town.  
We spent the whole day just walking around.  The town is exceedingly poor, and 
outside of the 2 tourist streets you really get a sense for China.

The wall itself was complete, as promised and well maintained.  However in sections
 far from the tourist area on the inside of the wall has collapsed and the dirt used to fill in 
the wall has turned to mud.  If this isn't fixed I don't imagine it will remain a complete 
wall for much longer.

Typical street kitchen that I ate at in China

Brooms used for everything from the home, to sweeping the streets

This is an example of how much attention I get.  Lao wai (foreigners) are stared at as if we are aliens in China.
I was just sitting away from the street, and still people would peer over the wall to see me.  Yang Jia thought
I should take pictures of them since they were all staring anyway. Three looked away when they saw my camera,
but I assure you, all 9 of these people were staring.

A quick ride around the city

Outside the tourist area