All the Tea in China - Part 5 Shanxi

I thought eight (8) hours to cover 340 kilometres was slow going, the ride from Xian to Yuncheng topped that. Travelling only 240 kilometres in eight (8) hours, Yuncheng is an overnight stopover blur. The following day in Pingyao was more memorable though, the site of a walled ancient city with a difference, the ancient city contains all the usual replica building tourist souvenir shops, but also has many streets containing original homes and building that are lived and worked in today and provide a genuine link to days gone by.

 

Daixian is my next destination, before getting there I divert slightly to see a section of Great Wall that is currently visited by few tourists. I say currently because very soon it may be inundated with tourists, construction is well under way on a replica historic town with souvenir shops, hotels and the Great Wall all accessible via a new road transporting the tourists closer than is possible now.

I walk for about ninety minutes return to see the refurbished yet still impressive section of Wall.

 

 

Arrival in Daixian is similar to my arrival into many other Chinese cities on my tour, with countless new high rise apartment complexes under construction and a sky line dotted with numerous tower cranes.

 

Departing Diaxian valley and over the surrounding hills into the neighbouring valley the following morning, I ride past a section of original Great Wall that has not been refurbished and is not accessible to tourists, I ride a dirt track to snap a couple of photos before getting back on the tar road and heading towards Hebei Province for Part 6 of my China tour.