PINGYAO

Wow, we took the overnight Hard Sleeper train from Beijing to Pinyao and appear to have arrived into a different world. Thought Beijing was a little dirty and polluted but Pinyao is just filthy beyond the obvious tourist streets. Having said that, the history is simply amazing as it is the only Chinese city that still has it's wall entirelly intact ..... much like Rothenburg in Germany except much, much bigger and older (13th Century). Seems so wierd staying in the centre of what was once such an advanced civilisation watching people throw human waste into the street outside their own houses! Once you venture outside the city walls you get a feeling of whjat a provincial city in China is really like and, I have to say, it's pretty disturbing! However, the people are very friendly, very curious and very keen on staring!

One other thing that has struck us is that the internet site access is STRICTLY limited. Wierd thing is that I can edit the blog but I can't view it !!!!! Just hope that it's all going on there!

Still having major problems trying to get the Visa to Tibet ... have decided to head to Chengdu to try there.