Our hostel, the Zhengjia International, is on one of two main drags in Pingyao. Lining each major street are shops full of jewelry, souveniers, clothing, and food and drink. Each morning women sell their small cakes and flat tortilla-like pancakes cooked over hot stones to make them all wavy. Small stray dogs roam the streets, marking their territory and begging for scraps. I wanted to take all of them home until our bike ride this morning, when I saw two of them happily rolling in donkey poop in the middle of the road. Maybe I’d take them home after some serious baths!

Pingyao is definitely not modernized like Beijing, though there are amenities like air conditioning, coolers, and cold, cold Yanjing beer. The last two nights, however, the electricity has gone out at around 9:00 p.m. in our section of small Pingyao. We gingerly made our way up to our room both nights with flashlights and candles, until about 9:30 when the electricity came back on.  We did find the Sakura Bar, where we had french fries and pizza, and both were good! Last night we went to “#1 Restaurant Pingyao” (at least according to the sign) and I had cat-ear noodles, named for their shape and not their ingredients! The restaurant was not awesome, but we did get to see a whole group come in for a birthday party, complete with a huge floral arrangement, cake, and tower of tiny cupcakes!

Many tour groups of Chinese people come through Pingyao, and we are often asked to take pictures with them! White people are funny! Just a little while ago, a whole family came up to Frank while he was having a beer out on the front porch and hung out with him, asking questions and talking with him.

Many shopfronts offer massages, and Amanda and Nate found a great one with lovely foot massages. I stopped in with them today and had a foot massage. They brought us fresh watermelon and were happy to see us. I asked if they did manicures, which they don’t, but the young man who gave me a foot massage brought me a bottle of nail polish so I could polish my nails. They were the nicest people!

Jeremy, Rebecca and Erin headed to Xi’an yesterday, as there were only enough soft sleeper tickets for three on last night’s train. Today, Amanda, Frank, Nate and I will head out on the train to Xi’an.

More later… Off for more fries.