!!Two Cabs, a Bus, a Train and a Rickshaw!! The road to Pingyao.

It was travel day today, we bounced out of bed and grabbed our packs only to find an email waiting in our inbox informing us that our hostel reservation for tonight in Pingyao was cancelled!! Thankfully, the wonderful girls at the front desk were nice enough to call ahead and find us another room for tonight at a different hostel. Even with the delay there was no problem making it to the train station on time. We waited around reading and journaling, pretending to listen for our train call on the PA, not that we'd notice. It was a high speed train we were taking, as it pulled out of Beijing we were amazed by the amount of corn and the random places it was planted, it was everywhere like wildflowers invading the countryside. After the corn fields we started to enter the mountains. Our train was traveling at 185km/h and still taking 10 minutes to exit some tunnels!!

It was a smooth ride for once and we met a french backpacker heading in the same direction. Spewed out as 3 in the chaos of Taiyuan we struggled to locate our bus connection. After roaming the streets a bit asking everyone we crossed, we came upon a hotel with a super friendly staff. The manager was kind enough to write down for us instructions in Chinese on a piece of paper.
Objective 2 was to find a taxi in this crazy place. All the cabs we found either drove away without us or shook their heads at us and laughed until finally, one kind driver ushered us in. Our drivers English was about as good as our Chinese but oddly enough he had a flyer hanging from his visor for the Pingyao Photo Festival. We had no idea this was going on but perhaps it was the reason our room was double booked. We shared a confusing conversation about cameras and photos while we taught him English and he taught us Chinese without anyone truly learning anything. Dodging and weaving, dodging and weaving with the occasional honk, we eventually completed the death defying drive to the bus station and miraculously bought our tickets.
Waiting around the station speaking with our new french friend we heard some hollering in our direction we turned around to find a lady waving us over and yelling Pingyao!!, Pingyao!! ushering us onto a bus, it wasn't the bus we were waiting for but we rushed on anyway to find it was an early bus we were lucky enough to catch. We were aboard, but seating was a stretch. The driver motioned me over and sat me down in the middle spot between him and the front passenger!! It was a strange spot, hardly a seat, but allowed me a heads up view of the insanity to come. And the bus was off, rambling, bouncing, swerving, passing on the shoulder, playing chicken in the oncoming lane, pedal to the metal we had places to be!! My eyes were peeled wide, hands white from a terrorizing grip of the seat, and just when i thought i'd had enough, I looked up and spotted the marvellous city walls in the dark night sky ahead. We had made it...... Alive .......

Happy to be back on solid ground, we waved down a rickshaw and requested a ride. Our only clue from there was a business card with Chinese instructions we hoped said "Please take me to Harmony Guesthouse". With no more than a nod we were on our way, fourth mode of transportation today and still lost. I don't think anyone knew the way including the driver! stop-go, stop-go, ask someone here, ask someone there, putting down the lantern lit streets stalling, starting, repeat. Unbelievably we found our stop, tipped the driver and checked in. What a crazy travel packed day, but we made it....... Somehow..... it's time2giver

Thanks for reading, follow along @time2giver

If you liked this have a look at my recent posts of the Great Wall and Forbidden City, I posted the links below

The Playgrounds of Emperors - The Summer Palace and Olympic Green
https://steemit.com/travel/@time2giver/the-playgrounds-of-emperors-the-summer-palace-and-olympic-green

The Great Wall of China! Stone, Sweat and Stunning!
https://steemit.com/travel/@time2giver/the-great-wall-of-china-stone-sweat-and-stunning

!!Enter The Forbidden!! The Palace of Ancient China
https://steemit.com/travel/@time2giver/enter-the-forbidden-the-palace-of-ancient-china

Roaming The Town and Soaking It up, A Day in Beijing
https://steemit.com/travel/@time2giver/roaming-the-town-and-soaking-it-up-a-day-in-beijing