I woke up a bit late, there wasn't the usual need to get anywhere early. My room card key had stopped working so I packed everything up and left it in the corridor before going to the toilet and gaving a shower. 3 other people from the room also seemed to be leaving and at least 1 didn't have a key card either. I went on the internet to look at Pingyao accommodation and the $2 place was noe $6, I regretted not booking it. When I was happy with my packing I left the suitcase and backpack in the luggage room, got my deposit back, filled up my water (lesson learned from the day before) and headed out. I walked north to the temple in thr north-west corner of the city and it cost 25 yuan which I paid. The place was a decent size but had very little written in English and there was nothing spectacular about it. I keft and went along and through the city wall and tried to find a bus to the train station but there was none so I ended up walking and visited a one entrance park and got a triangle of rice on the way. The train station had lots of barriers around making it quite difficult to get into and making the way out longer. The woman in my ticket queue didn't want to try to understand what I wanted and passed me onto her colleague who spoke some English. The fast train was expensive so I ended up on the overnight arriving at 7.30am in Pingyao. I had the day free now and decided to start with an art gallery which had great tripadvisor reviews. I looked around for the buses that went there and there was none about so I went into the city and still couldn't see any. I headed west to the city wall and walked south along that for a bit to what was marked as an antiques market. It seemed nice enough but gad a card payment system where you top up a card and use that as money in the area. I walked around and there was lots of food stalls but as I couldn't pay I didn't get anything. I realised after a bit that there were no antiques there although they rod have the highest shadow puppet or something and also the longest stone bench. I went to the west gate and went through and was going to go south but the area was blocked for some reason which annoyed a Chinese man more than it did me. I left him arguing with the guard and instead went west to the temple of 8 immortals. Along the road I found an internet shop and it was pretty big with ok prices so I marked it on my map. I carried on and there were several people with collections of bottles, cardboard, wood. It looked like there was some kind of rubbish recycling going on there. I came to the temple and it was ok, a decent size with several buildings and was just 3 yuan entry. They didn't allow photos there for some reason and the statues looked to be Taoist gods. I left and went south towards a park and stopped at a supermarket called Adil life where I got a cheap ice cream. There was no through road where I wanted so I went further round and it seemed to be a cheap area judging by shop prices in the east end of town. The park had a lake and also flowers and lots of people. It seemed to be a bit like the Japanese visiting cherry blossoms or maybe it was just because it was a weekend. I was halfway round the lake looking across and I saw some kind of aviary net but it was too far now. I went to a pavilion and then left the park to the south past a funfair. There was a university which was gated so I gad to divert around to get to Qinglong or green dragon temple, which had a big stepped entrance, several buildings, museum and ribbons. It was a decent place and people were putting up more ribbons on the trees for their wishes or prayers. The museum was not so good as it didn't gave much English and I headed out and went to get on a bus which was a no.9. The bus was ok but turned left near where I wanted to go and then didn't stop for a few hundred metres. I walked back and on to next temple and got some food on the way. The temple was ok and also free but I still had bookmarked places to see so I went north to the small goose pagoda. There was a wall around the place and a museum there as well so I went to the entrance and decided to buy a ticket. I gave my passport details when they asked and the ticket was free. I went to the museum which was smaller than the Shaanxii one and has some history of Xian specifically but otherwise was like other Chinese museums. I left and found a supermarket called Bravo where I got nuts, 3 steamed buns for 4.50, tofu and some overpriced cooked food balls like Bhajis. I walked north to the city wall and tried to see a temple but it was shut. I headed back west and went to a Confucian academy but was not allowed in and then I couldn't find a temple. I walked along to the east gate and found another temple that was shut. The pathway I had tried to walk along earlier was open now but I didn't go along and went to the internet place. There was some language trouble and I needed an id but they logged me on with someones id so I went on the computer but there was very little access to anything really although the BBC website worked and I booked a hostel. I went to the metro and took it back back to the hostel where I sat downstairs eating and I had too much food. I used the internet to get some information for Pingyao and watched some girls play pool until it was time to leave. I got my luggage and went to the train station where security was not too bad and I got my train ok. I didn't bother with the seat I'd been assigned and moved to an empty area straight away. I slept there opposite a girl who later got off as I woke up and there was a guy there who hardly moved, everytime I woke up during the night he was in the same position.
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